The Monster's Whore
by HelloMaryLou
Summary: "I wish you had made me your Whore."
1. Chapter 1

**_Set after True Love's Kiss. Rumplestilskin has found Belle, living homeless, and has brought her back to Dark Castle._**

**_Angst and unspoken desires await..._**

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There she sat, the blazing fire outlining her perfect profile in a divine halo as she combed her delicate fingers through her ratty auburn curls.

With her mud-caked hemline and holes in her worn silver slippers she was like another girl, _woman_, to him completely.

A far cry from the pampered, privileged lady he bargained for nearly two years ago.

A far cry from the _Princess_ that she used to be…..

He watched her as he leaned against the doorway, his silk covered arms crossed across his chest, his sage eyes shimmering in the fire light.

He stared intently, taking in her tattered form and new thinness. He felt a painful stab of guilt when he watched her roll down her filthy stockings and saw the numerous bruises and bloodied scratches that littered her pale legs.

"From sleeping on the damned ground, like a bloody hound no doubt…" he seethed to himself from his darkened doorway.

She was a waif, a common beggar sleeping under a bridge at the mouth of King Midas' battlements when he saw her, her crystalline blue eyes locking with his viridian gold.

"_Belle_…" he breathed when he saw her, washing her dirty face in the icy water of the branch that lay a few yards from the Kingdom gates.

Her once fetching blue dress now ripped and soiled, her luxurious chestnut hair lack-luster and unkempt, and her feet bound with bloody rags.

She froze.

And her eyes immediately began to tear at the sight of him.

_Her True Love…_

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"I know you're there." She said over her shoulder as she rubbed her dirty hands in front of the fire, trying to warm them.

"I know that you know I'm here." He answered as he stared at her broken, discolored nails.

"Forgive me, I seem to have forgotten omnipotence is bundled up with all of your other _powers_." She spat as she hiked her ripped skirt up over her knees.

She wore no petticoats.

Rumpelstiltskin's eyes flew to the floor in humility and if he could still blush, he knew his face would be the same color as the rose he gave her so very, very long ago.

He swallowed the lump that had suddenly arisen in his throat as she scowled into the fire, her arms wrapped around her bared knees.

"You haven't touched your plate." He said as his eyes darted to the untouched china bowl of mutton stew long grown cold on the rug beside Belle.

"I'm not hungry." She clipped.

"Liar." He sang from his post.

Her head snapped around angrily, her eyes nearly colorless as she glared at him, her jaw locked in indignation,

"How dare _you_ call _me _a liar." She hissed, her dingy blue skirt twisting around her thighs as her body turned toward him.

He struggled not to look at her in her unintentional immodesty.

After a few moments of deafening silence and hateful glaring from Belle she spoke again,

"Do not tell me the great and powerful Dark One has nothing to say?"

Belle rose and brushed herself off, not that it would do any good, and thrust her hands on her waist.

"No quips? No witty little riddles to taunt me with?!" she yelled as she stalked towards his shadowed figure in the doorway.

Rumpelstiltskin gritted his teeth as he watched her bare feet glide across the polished floor.

"Come now! No temper, no shouts, no cursing my name like last time?!"

He remained silent as she approached him, spewing her long bottled up rage and pain.

"Tell me, Rumpelstiltskin," she spat his name at him like an accusation, "do you still think me in league with the '_Queen_'?"

She was a breath away from him now, her raggedy skirt balled up in her fists, her beautiful face twisted in ire.

"I hardly think she'd let the treasured spy she enlisted to _crush_ the nefarious Dark One sleep under a bridge and beg for crumbs on the street! Just as I seriously doubt this powerful witch would allow her precious ally to be _spat_ upon and called the _monsters whore_!" she screamed as she fell into dirty, weeping cerulean heap in front of him.

Rumpelstiltskin was at her side immediately.

"What have I done to you?" he whispered as he cradled her to his chest, the smell of the woods and filth wafting up into his nose from her dull locks.

Not caring that her tears drenched his favorite silk shirt.

Not caring that she didn't return his embrace.

Not caring that she cursed him between her woeful sobs.

Belle raised her forlorn head and looked at him, her tears streaming down her ashy face,

"You have shattered me."

He looked down, abashed.

Too ashamed at her truthful words to meet her gaze,

"Goddamn her!" he snarled.

Belle went limp in his grasp as she laid her head against his shoulder.

He did not see her sad smile but heard her chuckle,

"Yes damn _her,_ for you have already damned me for the rest of my existence."

Her hands lay useless in her lap as she stared at one of the many tapestries that lined the walls of the great hall.

She whispered,

"Do you believe me now? Do you believe that I love you?"

He remained silent.

She sighed, "I fear I shall always love you Rumpelstiltskin, even though I thought perhaps time would heal my wounds and it was all just fancy, _but_ the kiss worked…."

"I thought you were dead."

"What?" she said as she shifted to face him.

"Regina came to me and told me that your father had imprisoned you and sent clerics to cleanse your body of…_me_. She said you threw yourself from the tower your father had kept you in. You _died_." He choked on the last word as she stared at him, dumbfounded.

"You believe her as she lies, yet you berate me for speaking true." Belle whispered.

"Please Belle," he sighed as he lowered his head, "Won't you tell me what happened to you?"

"She told her tale half true," Belle said as she laid her head back on his shoulder, "Upon my return to my father's Kingdom I was stripped of my title and declared a harlot in the streets. They spat on me, those people I gave my life for, and my own_ father_ turned his back to me as a mob ran me from my home."

Rumpelstiltskin gritted his teeth in anger, his claws curled around her almost painfully.

"I lived in the woods, I was lucky no one found me."

"Why didn't you call me Belle? You know all you had to do was say my name!"

She looked down at her mud caked dress,

"I wish you had made me your whore, maybe my shame would be easier to bear."

"_You don't know what you're saying_!" He snapped.

"Oh yes I do, even though I can never have your love I could have had…._that_."

"Gods Belle!" he yelled.

"Gods Belle!" she mocked as she wrenched her body away from his embrace, "Don't you see I would have given you _anything_! I loved you, I love you yet! You've broken me, cursed me, hated me, yet I still love you!"

"I haven't hurt you in that way! You're still _pure_, your virtue-"

"My virtue is dead."

A single tear snaked it way down her cheek as she glared at him, her blue eyes smoldering.

His upper lip flinched, "Don't say that Belle, you're everything that is good and pure and right."

"Look at me Rumpelstiltskin!" she screamed as she grabbed her nasty skirt, "I'm not pure and good! I'm no longer _Princess Belle_ draped in golden bridal satin! I'm not brave and I am definitely not the savior I so desperately longed to be! I'm _filth_!" a pitiful sob wracked through her body and she looked up at him with a heaving breast and slowly whispered,

"I am the Monster's Whore."

"Shut the hell up!" he wailed as he pushed her from his arms and jumped from the floor.

Belle fell backward and crouched on the rug looking wild and heathen as she watched him sling furniture out of his path to one of the many large bare windows across from her.

With his back to her he leaned, palms down, against the glass and looked out into the black night and exhaled deeply.

A wide grin crept across her flawless face.

Propping herself up she stared at his back, the chagrin of her words still hung in the air over them.

So much had been left unsaid between them, but not anymore.

Belle would do the brave thing one more time.

Quietly, she rose and went to him,

"Rumpelstiltskin." She whispered a breath away from him.

"There's a grief that can't be spoken." He said as the scream of his nails against the glass cut through the electric air.

Belle saw herself reflected behind him and she laid her hand flat against his leather covered back, "I love you." She said plainly.

"I have _killed_ you." he hissed as he caught her frail wrist in his claw.

Belle winced at the stab of his jagged talons as they dug into the translucent skin just above the heel of her hand. His lips curled over his teeth in a sneer and Belle stared, fearless, into the bottomless black pits that were his eyes.

She was in awe of him...as always.

"Yes. You killed me." she hissed with the identical agony, "Now _ressurect_ me. Break me, dishonor me, _destroy_ me."

Belle's eyes began to well with new tears, "Do what ever you want to me! Only make me _yours!_"

"You cannot fathom what you are asking!" Rumplestilskin growled as he clenched his fingers around Belle's wrist, "To have a _monster_ steal your virtue? To _soil_ you, to take and demolish your purity?!" he sighed heavily, "Gods Belle have you _no_ pride?!"

"With you, Rumplestilskin, I must always choose between my love or my pride."

Her fingers clutched at the wide collar of his tunic, skimming through the sparse dusting of hair against the glittering gold of his chest,

"I can never have both."

His nails dug into Belle's back as he held her to him, the strong sweetness of her innocence masking the outdoor stench of her.

"Make me yours." she whispered against his neck, "I love you Rumplestilskin."

He scoffed, "Who could ever learn to love a Beast_?"_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2 :) **_

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"Who could love a disgraced Princess?"

Belle closed her eyes and gritted her teeth.

"Who wears the spit of her people upon her skirts and isn't worth the _dirt _beneath her Papa's feet."

"They will pay for what they've done to you." He looked into her sapphire eyes, "_I will destroy them if it is the last thing I do_."

Belle stared at him impassively.

"You may destroy them, but you cannot destroy what they have done to me. You cannot wipe away the hatred; you cannot magic away the scars and bruises their stones left on my body any more than you can allow me to kiss you." She said as she leaned into him.

Rumpelstiltskin froze.

Belle chuckled, low and husky as her lips brushed against his grey-gold cheek. Snaking her arms around his neck she breathed, "Worry not Dark One, I shan't kiss thee."

Belle's lips trailed across the surprisingly smooth terrain of his jaw to whistle against the shell of his ear, "God forbid I break your precious curse."

"Stop it Belle." He snarled as he crushed her to him, "_Don't_."

"Names hold power you know." Belle said matter-of-factly.

"I've dreamt of you calling my name." He slowly whispered.

Rumpelstiltskin's breath hitched when Belle dug her nails into his shoulder blades.

"Rumpelstiltskin," She paused for a breath,

"Make love to me."

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For the first time in centuries Rumpelstiltskin felt inferior.

Seated less than an inch from Belle, in front of the blazing marble fireplace, he watched her with wide, reptilian eyes as she unlaced her bodice.

His eyes were glued to her fingers plucking and pulling the suede ties from the front of the cotton basque. He was down to only his leather leggings now; his silk shirt lay crumpled a few feet away on the floor underneath the window.

When she shrugged her basque from her narrow shoulders, he jerked it from her.

"You shall _never _dress in rags again." He hissed and he threw the faded scrap into the crackling fire.

She stared mournfully at the dying fabric.

It reminded Belle of herself.

"_Belle?"_ he said as he caressed her arm and tried to ignore the faded scars that were scattered along her milky flesh.

"It's not too late."

She smiled at him sadly and un-tucked her dingy chemise from her blue skirt and pulled it over her head without modesty.

Rumpelstiltskin forgot how to breathe.

His eyes moved from her graceful neck, to her beautiful shoulders, and to her perfect breasts covered with what he imagined to be the softest skin in all ten kingdoms, and dusted with rose pink nipples that had hardened in the cool air.

He had already been hard for what seemed like _years_, ready to get this all over and done with, but watching Belle sit there in front of him with only her skirt on and her eyes glued to the ground as if she had done something wrong and were awaiting punishment made him take her into his arms.

"You don't have to-"

"_Please_..." Belle whispered and placed his talon on her thigh.

Her skin was like silk.

She looped her thin little arms around his neck and buried her face in the crook of his shoulder as he traced lazy circles up her leg, stopping when he came to the juncture of her thighs.

"Don't stop."

His hand hovered uncertainly above her womanhood, "Say no Belle, I beg of you, _please_ say no." he whispered into her hair.

Without a word Belle parted her legs to him, every nerve in her body was wailing for him.

He cupped her, feeling the soft patch of curls, and her sweltering heat.

She _did_ want him.

Rumpelstiltskin sighed and began to rub her mound gently, "_Belle_..." he croaked when his index finger ghosted her slit.

Belle tensed in response and wound her fingers into his wiry hair.

His finger teased her, roaming up and down her folds and her arousal made her slick enough to where he could smell her.

Slowly, he slid his overly long finger into her.

Belle jerked like she had been burned, but whispered quickly, "_Please Rumpelstiltskin_..."

He heeded her request and continued to sink his digit into her soaking core.

He felt her begin to nip and lick his neck as he stroked her slowly with his finger, "I'm ready." she whispered into his ear and then tugged on his earlobe with her teeth.

"You will never be ready."

In one motion he laid her naked back onto the thick rug, and with a shaking hand, Rumpelstiltskin brushed a fuzzy chestnut curl away from her face.

"Your shaking." she said as he parted her thighs. Her blue skirt pooled in front of her womanhood, shielding it.

Belle rolled her eyes and turned to the fire, her breasts were illuminated by the orange light and before he knew it, he had cupped one in his hand.

Belle sighed and pushed herself into his palm and he began to massage her whilst simultaneously unlacing his breeches.

He moved atop her and she wrinkled her rag of a skirt around her waist.

With one hand cupping her breast Rumpelstiltskin freed himself with the other.

Momentarily leaving her chest, he pulled her hips to meet him and looked up at her, "I'm sorry Belle."

Bracing himself with one hand, palm down, beside of her head, he pulled her left thigh over his lower back and pushed inside of her.

"_Stop!"_ she wailed as her hands sprung to her lover's chest, trying to push him from atop her.

He stilled and let out the breath he had held without realizing it, he had broken her maidenhood.

"It hurts." she whimpered from beneath him, letting her palms slide down his chest to rest on his shimmering stomach.

"Don't move until I tell you to..._please_." she breathed, her wrinkled brow relaxing and the tension slowly leaving her body.

Rumpelstiltskin shivered, Belle was like a vice around him.

His nails dug into the woven carpet beneath them as he awaited her command.

He dared not move an inch.

He had already maimed her soul, to grieve her physically was more than he could bear on his conscience at this point.

"Please move." she squeaked quietly, and Rumpelstiltskin praised the Gods.

Slowly he shifted to lie closer to her, his face buried between her neck and shoulder where Belle's had been on him only moments before when he held her in his lap.

He couldn't look at her as he sullied her.

Yet he didn't have the strength to stop.

She was _everything_.

She had risen from the dead and _desired_ him, and the soft, aching moans that came from beneath him drove him on and on. He planted soft kisses along her collar bone and neck, whispering her name over and over...

"Tell me to stop Belle," he growled, "Please, tell me to-"

"_Don't stop_," she moaned as she hooked her ankles across his lower back, "Rumpelstiltskin, please don't ever stop."

Relentlessly he sheathed himself again and again, knowing he would finish all too soon and praying Belle had no knowledge of such things.

Suddenly, he heard her scream his name, clear and bell-like.

He felt her spasm around him, squeezing him so tightly he saw stars. Her back curved a little off the rug and she fisted her hands in his hair.

He had _pleased_ .her.

"God Almighty!"


	3. Chapter 3

**I do hope everyone is enjoying my little story! More to come!**

**:)**

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Feeling Belle crumble around him caused Rumplestilskin to quickly find his own release.

And it felt like he was being reborn. It had never been like this with Milah.

_Never._

His breath came shakily as he struggled to pull his collapsed torso off of Belle.

His limbs felt like jelly.

"Are you alright?" he choked out of his parched throat.

Belle stared at the ceiling with her skirt still hiked up to her waist and her arms lain limply on either side of her head.

Her legs looked like they belonged to a marionette, still bent and spread wide enough for his pelvis to cradle between. She reminded him vaguely of a doll that had perhaps been tossed from a great height and had landed on her back.

She looked broken and useless.

But she wasn't.

In that moment, even with the dirt caked to her skirt and the smudges of ash on her face, his Belle looked more beautiful than she had ever looked to him.

Because now she _truly_ was his.

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Rumplestilskin toyed with a strand of her hair as he awaited her answer.

But, instead of words, Belle began to softly weep. Fat, clear streams flowed freely down her cheeks, following the old trail of her previous tears.

"_Have I hurt you?!"_ he said, horrified, and pulled her into his sore arms.

Her only response was to bury her face against his bare chest as harder sobs wracked her body.

"_Please do not weep Belle_…._please_…." he cooed as he rocked her.

"Tell me," She sobbed, "Tell me!"

Rumplestilskin knew what she asked, but his mouth couldn't form the words.

"Belle, I can't-"

"Tell me Rumplestilskin," she faced him, "Do not play the coward with me any longer."

"_I am not a coward."_ He spat.

"The tell me!" Belle barked back with the same frustration.

"You don't understand, it's not that simple!"

"_The kiss worked_." She hissed through teeth gritted in irritation.

And before she register what was occurring, the Dark One had pinned her to the floor and was looming over her with his rotten teeth bared in a disturbing snarl.

"_You will never ever mention that again_." He whispered with venom dripping from each syllable.

Belle glared into his golden eyes without fear. She knew this act far too well.

Her True Love was playing the Beast again, trying to scare her into submission. He always used his anger to frighten her in hope that it would somehow mask his cowardice.

But Belle always saw through him.

_Do the brave thing…_

"It means True Love."


	4. Chapter 4

_**19 follows, 12 favorites, and 8 reviews!**_

_**Thank you all so much!**_

_**Here's Chapter 4 :)**_

* * *

Belle's words hung in the small space between their faces. Almost like a fog of things too painful to say and games that had grown shamefully old.

Neither blinked nor spoke.

Belle's chest heaved with anger and with each deep breath her bare breasts pressed against Rumplestilskins glittering scales. Her hands were still pinned to the carpet beneath her.

"You _know_ I'm right." She said, low.

Rumplestilskin locked his jaw and narrowed his golden-flecked eyes dangerously, but Belle remained unaffected.

For she had learned to love a Beast.

He rose and turned his back to her as she was still in a state of undress.

Belle stood and wrapped her arms around her, with her chin tilted towards the ceiling, silently daring him to utter badinage.

He turned on his heels and glared at her as he slipped back under the mask of the Dark One.

"I trust you remember where the bathing tub is."

Belle rolled her eyes and pushed a ratty lock of maple hair from in front of her face.

"Good. I strongly suggest you make use of it."

He brushed by her without a glance and strode towards the great double doors. He flicked his wrist and they parted for him, just like Belle's legs.

"I shall be sure to wash thoroughly betwixt my legs my Lord," Belle bit out as she turned.

"I can feel you running down my thighs."

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From the shadows, always from the shadows, Rumplestilskin watched her as she bathed.

His eyes followed the thin white cloth spread sweet smelling suds across her chest and over the grime on her arms and neck. Quickly she became clean again and once more Rumpletilskin pined for the feel of her underneath him.

All the dirt and dust had been washed from her, but Rumplestilskin could still see his vile fingerprints on her. He could see the mark he burned her with as soon as he sheathed himself inside of her.

He laid his head back against the cold stone wall and clutched his budding erection through his leather trousers.

Belle had always unnerved him.

Even in the beginning, the way those cold, crystal eyes looked him up and down prying away at the layers of evil that he masked himself with. The way she weeded out his insecurities and failures.

And yet, somehow, she still loved him.

She loved him enough to give her innocence to him and he couldn't even tell her how much he loved her. _Belle_, who had proven her love in the only way she knew how, by becoming the Dark One's slut.

"I know you're there Rumplestilskin." Her sweet, well-bred voice purred from in front of the fireplace.

"I do believe you have eyes in the back of your head." He said as he stepped, again, from the shadows.

Something akin to a smile ghosted across her clean face and she pulled her heavy, wet hair to one side.

"One acquires certain tendencies when living with a dark sorcerer." She said as she wrung the cloth out.

He walked around the shiny copper tub to face her and clasped his arms behind him.

Belle's head and shoulders were the only thing visible and he saw several little bouquets of lavender sprigs floating in the opaque water.

To make it sweet smelling he presumed.

As if she needed it, her innocence made her smell sweet enough.

"Why were you watching me?" she said, propping her white arms on the edges of the tub.

"….could it be you were itching to rutt between my legs again? Needing to sate your lust again so..._quickly_? Tell me Dark One, did I please you greatly?" she purred and grinned, dipping one toe from underneath the water.

He made a disgusted face, "Don't talk that way to me."

"_Why?"_ she cooed in a sing-song voice.

"Because you sound like a whore." He spat as he gripped the edges of the tub.

Belle's face fell and she looked down at the milky water abashed.

"Do not attempt to play mind games with me dearie," he said, his voice deeper than Belle had ever heard it, "I invented them."

"That's all _this_," Belle gestured to the space between them, "has ever been to you anyway, just a game. I mean nothing to you."

Rumplestilskin closed his eyes and sighed, "I can see that my company is not desired tonight. I shall take my leave." He gave her a curt nod and turned to make his exit.

"Run away Rumple," she rose from the steaming tub, sweet smelling water dripping from every lush curve of her body, and looked him squarely in the eye.

"it's what you're good at."


	5. Chapter 5

_**OhMyGosh **_

_**14 faves, 12 reviews, and 25 follows!**_

_**Ya'll are too kind! Thank you all sooo much for reading!**_

_**So without further ado, here's Chapter 5 **_

* * *

Belle stepped out of the tub and placed her hands confidently on her round, naked hips.

Her mouth quirked into a half smile as she watched her words sink in.

Little did she know that once upon a time another woman had sliced Rumpelstiltskin with words not very unlike the one's she had just used.

But it stung Rumpelstiltskin a million times more hearing it come from Belle's beautiful mouth than from Milah's feculent one.

And once again Belle saw through him like he was invisible...like he was _nothing._

It was always easy for him to serve contemptibleness, but when it was on his own plate, Rumpelstiltskin found it much too difficult to swallow.

He glared hatefully back at those humorless cold eyes set in that seraphic face and felt pure rage boil inside of him.

His hands balled into fists at his sides, so tightly that he wasn't even aware in the slightest that his nails were cutting through his callused palms and eerie black-green blood had begun streaming down his knuckles and dripped slowly onto the rug.

Belle glanced to his hands and back up to his stormy golden eyes.

"What's the matter Dark One?" she smirked, "have I hurt your feelings?"

She was challenging him, and as always, he would accept.

Rumpelstiltskin stalked towards her with fire in his eyes.

Belle stood painfully stiff as he pressed one bleeding palm to her cheek and forcibly pushed her face to look away from him; staining her creamy skin.

"Get out of my sight." He hissed slowly.

They were shoulder to shoulder for what seemed like hours, neither daring to breathe before the other, and the metallic tang of his blood had begun to sneak itself between Belle's lips when, suddenly, he wrenched his hand away from her face and wailed.

"_I said get out of my sight before I-" _he stopped mid-statement and flung the heavy copper tub against the wall in one blinding motion, so hard it cracked the stones, and Belle looked down at her bare feet as her dirty bathwater flooded the floor underneath them.

Belle knew he only done it to keep his hands from her neck.

"Get. Out. Now." He growled.

But Belle had never been one to run.

So, with august deliberateness, she turned and _walked _out.

* * *

When she was alone in the confines of her old chambers, Belle wept openly and bitterly.

She cursed herself for her impudent tongue, she cursed Rumpelstiltskin for being a coward, and she hated herself for loving him so unconditionally.

She knew no matter what he done to her or what he said, she would always love him and she would_ always_ forgive him.

_Because it means True Love._

Belle curled into herself and cried into the blue silk pillow. Why did she come back? He had rejected her once already, broken her heart, and spit on it.

Why torture herself with dreams that will never come true?

"_Rumplestilskin…_" she sobbed and hid her swollen face behind her hands.

Her décolletage was splotched with red and pink where she had become hysterical and her eyes burned.

She had wrapped in her white silk dressing gown that she had found, along with all of her old clothes, in her dressing room just as she left it.

In fact, her whole room was just as she had left it.

As if she had just gone to the market and would be back before dusk.

All of her gowns were lined up perfectly arraigned in her dressing room and all of her shoes sat directly underneath their matching frocks.

Belle had not done that, nor had she lit the fire that she just now noticed raging in the fireplace.

She turned over and her heart leapt into her throat, on the opposite pillow lay a red rose, a faint dusting of gold floated down onto the pillow case, and a ribbon the color of her eyes was tied around the long stem. Belle carefully picked it up and sniffed it.

_"Coward."_


	6. Chapter 6

_**I just want to give a s/o to all of you who have read and reviewed my little story! Thank you all for the kind and encouraging words! **_

_**Chapter 6 whooohooo!**_

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Sometime in the middle of the night Belle awoke with a start.

_He_ was there.

Her eyes scanned the moonlit room from her pillow perch, which long grown dark and cold since the fire had died, and caught a faint glittering from the far left corner.

Belle wiped her sore eyes, kicked herself from underneath her cocoon of blankets, and inched to the end of her bed.

Her wavy auburn hair caressed her shoulders and had now retained all the lost shine that it had before.

Belle squinted in his direction and called, "I know you're there."

There was a sort of rustling noise followed by another brief flicker of metallic in the darkness.

"Hiding in the shadows is a little pointless you know," she brushed a loose curl over her shoulder, "...when you glow in the dark."

She knew that would gall him.

Belle heard him scoff from his cover across the room and before she knew it, he had the fireplace ablaze; thus illuminating the room.

She couldn't help but cover her sleepy eyes in defense as the light assaulted her.

Rumplestilskin stared at her from a chair against the wall.

His leather clad legs crossed one over the other and his arms were laid casually over the rests; his hands dangled loosely over the edges, his tar-like blood dried on to the palms.

His face was expressionless.

Belle rubbed her eyes and blinked as she adjusted to the new light, "Is there something you need Dark One?"

"No." he snapped curtly.

"Then I suggest you leave my chambers immediately." She replied with identical annoyance.

His face suddenly became animated and a wide grin stretched across his serpentine features as his hand flew up to his mouth, feigning disbelief.

"_Your_ _chambers?"_ he crowed, in a chilling high-pitched lilt.

"Since when did anything in _my _castle become _yours_?" he pointed one long, green finger at her and snickered.

Belle swallowed and looked down at the floor;there was no sense in arguing with him now.

He had slipped under the pretense of the Dark One….

_The Dealmaker..._

_The Beast..._

* * *

"Very well." Belle bit out, not meeting his gaze.

"Will you please leave?"

He chuckled and raked a slender, bloodstained hand through his ratty hair.

"I really don't understand you dearie," his brow wrinkled in mock confusion, "you're ordering_ me_ to go, from my own room none the less, when only just a moment ago you were _begging_ me to come." He rested his chin on the heel of his hand and winked at her.

Belle felt the shame creep across her face as she stared at the orange flames leaping in the fireplace.

Her scalp prickled under his viridian glare and the cavernous room felt vaguely like the eye of a hurricane, as if a monstrous storm was brewing right there between them.

"What's the matter dearie?"

He giggled, "Cat got your tongue?"

Belle remained silent, her eyes glued to the white marble in front of the fireplace.

"You know dearie, I am technically _still_ your master."

His lips curled over his decayed teeth in a displeased snarl, "_Sooooo_, that means when I ask a question," he paused and narrowed his gaze, "_you answer me_."

Belle's eyes flew up from the floor and locked with his in a defiant glare.

"I do not answer to cowards."

The shrill peal of his manic laughter rang in Belle's ears as she watched him push himself from his chair and cross the room in a graceful stride.

"And yet you parted your _lovely_ legs for him."

Rumplestilskin smiled smugly at Belle, who was now gripping her bed clothes so tightly her knuckles had gone white, and leaned leisurely against the footboard.

"Perhaps you would be willing to part them again…" he cooed as he ran his filthy hand up Belle's exposed calf.

"Perhaps…" Belle whispered, stopping his hand from roaming any farther beneath her gown.

He grinned, crookedly, and watched Belle untie the sash at her waist.

She flung it over the footboard and pulled the cool silk from her shoulders, letting it crumple around her hips, like fallen petals.

"So, which have you chosen tonight Belle?" he mocked as his voracious gaze raked over her naked body.

"Love or Pride?"

"Does it matter?" she said, lying back against the satin pillows and cool silken sheets.

"Either way I chose, _you_ always win."


	7. Chapter 7

_**Such lovely reviews! Such support!**_

_**As always, thank you all.**_

_**Chapter 7 **_

* * *

Bright, midday sun pulled Belle unwillingly from her sleep.

And she was not surprised in the slightest when she found herself _alone_ in the massive state bed.

Once a coward, always a coward.

She brushed her tangled sienna mane back, flopped onto her back amidst the ocean of blue silk sheets, and stared up at the canopy; contemplating the events that had occurred in the darkness of earlier that morning.

With one white arm draped across her bare breasts as the lace-trimmed hem of the sheet lay precariously across her hips, Belle felt the ache from her womanhood bleed into the tops of her thighs.

It sent chills down her spine.

She closed her eyes and she tried to remember Rumpelstiltskin's phantom fingers between her legs again, playing her like an instrument.

He knew every secret crevice of her body now and he had claimed it for his own.

She smiled in spite of herself when she remembered the feeling of his mouth upon her, lapping between her folds and nibbling her thighs.

Belle knew if she lifted up the sheet there would more than likely be bruises littering the soft inside skin of her legs.

_They didn't call him a Beast for nothing._

He took her in ways that Belle never dreamed possible; He found places within her that no other man could have ever discovered.

And when he plunged into her from behind Belle almost _wept._

Her mouth formed an astonished "O" as she felt his length fill her, so much deeperthan the first time.

She moaned into the pillows as he stretched her, and sank into her slick core.

She could still feel his claws gripping her hips, and she could still hear the sound of flesh slapping against flesh; creamy white against glimmering gold.

Belle cupped her sore sex as she remembered _straddling_ him…...

* * *

Rumpelstiltskin reclined against the padded headboard with his legs stretched out in front of him.

He had pulled Belle into his lap as he fondled and kissed her, _never on the mouth_, and very subtly he freed his hard length from his leather trousers.

"Take me."

She whispered as his hot mouth ravaged her neck and her hands wound in his kinky curls, _"_I can't bear it_."_

She felt him grin against her collar bone.

"So _forward_ dearie." He jested as his claws raked along her thighs and came to cup her buttocks, "Anyone would think _you_ were the master."

Belle whimpered as she felt his manhood brush her throbbing entrance.

"Tell me _Princess_, do you ride astride or side-saddle?" he giggled as he ground his pelvis against her aching mound.

Belle scrunched her brow in confusion at his quip, but her expression quickly changed to one of awe as he guided himself into her soaking entrance.

_She fit like a glove._

He mumbled something akin to a curse as his hands came to rest on her waist; kneading the ivory flesh beneath his cracked palms.

Belle feigned for some sort of movement, some kind of thrust like the first time to stroke that sweet place deep inside of her.

And slowly Rumpelstiltskin's hands began to rock her pelvis back and forth, guiding her to do what felt so _natural._

When she picked up the rhythm he was guiding her to, she gripped the headboard and moved faster as the pressure in her lower stomach became more adamant and sheer instinct took over.

Rumpelstiltskin growled into her breast and hugged her tighter to his chest.

_Like he loved her._

And when the white hot shock of pleasure ripped through her body, Belle felt herself break around him.

Somewhere in the haze she heard him croak her name and felt him as he came, _hard_, into her.

"God in Heaven." she whispered and slumped against him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Not quite dearie, but close." He hissed into her ear, but Belle barely heard him.

The exhaustion of love-making had taken its toll on her inexperienced body and she yawned into his neck.

The last thing she remembered was him gently laying her on her back and covering her with the cool top sheet.

Vaguely, she also remembered his broken whisper of apology; a lingering kiss on her flushed cheek and a long, spindly hand stroking her tousled hair before she succumbed to total darkness….

He did not tell her that he loved her.

But, he didn't need to.

* * *

"Do you not see?" Belle said to herself as her eyes began to brim with tears and her body started to shake with excruciating sobs.

"Its working! The Kiss!" her voice cracked with agony.

"_It means True Love!"_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Hello again Dearies!**_

_**It's kind of scary how Rumplestilskin can switch so quickly to becoming the "Beast" isn't it? One minute repentant and meek and the next cold and distant. (A personality trait partly inspired by my ex-boyfriend lol)**_

_**So, without further ado….**_

_**Chapter 8! **_

* * *

"I trust you slept well."

Rumpelstiltskin mumbled from his spinning wheel when Belle walked into the great hall sometime after two that afternoon.

He was hinting to soothe any residual anger that may still linger in her heart.

He would never speak of the shameful things they done in the darkness aloud; he would rather slap her with veiled innuendos and brusque comments because it was easy to kick an already wounded animal.

_Because he was a coward._

Yet, she always seemed to kick back...

Belle placed a fair hand to the small of her back and rubbed lightly through the white cotton of her day dress.

"It's been _so_ long since I've had anything softer than the ground to sleep on, I'm rather sore."

A scowl passed across his lips and he continued to spin gold.

Belle picked up a china cup, noticing it was different from the blue and white china he had before.

"What happened to the old set?" she asked holding up the new cup.

Rumpelstiltskin glanced at it and back to his thread.

"It was…..destroyed."

"Why?" she said as she studied the new pattern.

"Because," he paused, "I didn't want it anymore."

Belle continued to look at the cup.

"You seem to make a habit of destroying things you 'don't want anymore,' first a love-struck girl then a china cup."

Rumpelstiltskin's lips curled into a sneer, but he held his tongue.

She placed the cup gently on its matching saucer and picked up the silver tea pot.

She filled her cup to the brim and plopped in a lemon wedge.

"I always preferred sour over sweet."

Rumpelstiltskin stilled his wheel and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"If you've come to stick pins Belle," his voice had reverted back to a normal volume, "you're wasting your breath."

Belle turned her back and smiled as she sipped her steaming tea.

She looked around the room at all his "_treasures_."

The different "_prizes_" that made up his centuries old collection.

_Once upon a time she had been a prize._

Abeautiful_, living_ piece of his collection.

Until he broke her.

Now she was unwanted, just like that pitiful tea service.

* * *

She drug a graceful finger idly down the long dusty mahogany table and he watched her, discreetly, from his spinning wheel.

He was ruining this batch of thread trying to keep one eye on the wheel on one dire eye on Belle, but he didn't care.

Gold thread wouldn't keep him warm at night.

Gold didn't have two clear blue eyes that looked at him with so much love that almost made him weep; nor did it have two perfect lips that curled around his name so consummately that it was like a prayer.

Slowly his eyes deviated from his work, forgetting completely the motion of the thread.

Instead they were glued to the motion of Belle, swaying around the room and redness of that sublime mouth as it molded to the rim of her tea cup.

"_Fuck!"_

Belle whipped around, her eyes wide with alarm.

"_Are you alright?!"_

"I pricked my fucking finger." He snapped viciously.

She was beside him within a blink, cradling his beastly paw with utmost care.

On the tip of his marriage finger the puncture was oozing black blood.

He raised his hand to heal it magically, but to his marvel, she thrust his wounded finger into her rosebud mouth.

_He was hard instantly._

She flicked the tip with her tongue and Rumpelstiltskin fought to keep himself from slamming Belle on the stone floor and taking her right then and there.

She closed her eyes and her eyelashes brushed against her cheekbones; Rumpelstiltskin let out a strangled moan as the heat of her mouth spread from the tip of his finger into the rest of his body.

He didn't attempt to hide his new, painful erection.

Her eyes weren't innocent anymore.

She pulled his finger from her mouth.

"I had never heard that word until I came to live with you..." she mused.

He smiled, weakly, and stroked her face.

He had heard Snow White heralded as _"the fairest of them all"_ but in his eyes, darling Belle put her to shame.

She pressed his hand to her warm cheek. "_I love you Rumplestiltskin_."

He sighed dolefully and dropped his hand from her face.

"Why did you come back with me?"

"Why did you ask?"

She struggled to her feet and placed her hands on her narrow waist.

"I know it couldn't be from the goodness of your heart Rumple," she inched closer to him, "how can you serve something you've _never_ had."

She looked at him accusingly, waiting for his counter insult.

As was the dance they both knew so well.

"Do not presume to know me _Princess._"

He stood, his stool slamming against the wall behind him, "You know _nothing_ of my heart."

"Beause you hide it from me!"

Belle stepped closer to him and tentatively laid her hand across his chest, "You keep it locked away."

Rumpelstiltskin sighed and placed his hand over Belle's on his chest.

"You're so young and beautiful Belle, don't waste it all on an old monster like me."

Then he looked at her seriously, with all manner of tenderness fleeing from his face.

"There will _never_ be True Love's Kiss."

Belle pressed against him and silently laid her cheek on his silk covered shoulder.

Their fingers intertwined and she looked out of the large window behind them at the snow topped peaks, thoughtfully she rested her chin on his shoulder.

"But there _will _be True Love."


	9. Chapter 9

_**Dearies! **_

_**As always thank you for your reviews and follows and favorites!**_

_**:D**_

_**Chapter 9 **_

* * *

That night she appeared in the wide doorway of the great hall; bathed in torch light and powder blue silk.

Rumpelstiltskin stilled the wheel and slowly his eyes roamed up her body.

From her scarred bare feet, to her glossy chestnut braid tied with a wide vermillion ribbon, and finally to her questioning clear eyes lined with thick lashes.

_He did not deserve her._

_He would never be worthy of her._

He rose from his stool and stepped down from the platform.

His long hands hung purposelessly at his sides; for once they were not animated.

Belle leaned against the door frame and toyed with the end of her braid.

Every sensuous curve was highlighted amidst the orange glow of the receiving hall, her pale skin lambent and near translucent.

Rumpelstiltskin could see the rich, red blood teeming through the indigo veins under her snowy flesh.

He could hear the thunderous thump of her heart in her ribcage.

_The heart of the thing you love most…_

"Come to me."

He spread his arms wide in a beckoning gesture, the billowy gold silk of his sleeves hung down like wings.

She smiled faintly and closed the tortuous distance between them.

He enveloped her and she buried her face between his neck and shoulder.

She placed a chaste kiss on the shimmering skin that covered his collarbone.

He smoothed down her soft, wavy hair and pressed his nose to her crown; inhaling her sweet scent.

He could feel her delicate breasts pressing against his chest through the sheer silk of her nightdress.

"_My Beautiful Belle_." He whispered, letting his hands slide down her sides and rest on her hips.

He rubbed the soft fabric between his fingers and Belle sprinkled light kisses up the side of his neck.

"Rumplestilskin_…"_

He closed his eyes and swallowed the lump in his throat, "_Say it again_."

"_Rumpelstiltskin."_ She breathed, guiding his hand to cup her through her nightdress.

He choked back a very undignified moan when he felt her warmth fill his palm.

"How can Beauty lie with the Beast?" he whispered into her ear.

"How can a Maiden accept a Monster?"

"Because," she murmured, brushing her nose against his. "she sees the _man_ inside."

Belle looked into his eyes, "...and she _loves_ him."

"Love is weakness dearie." He muttered almost inaudibly as she traced the outline of his lips with her finger.

His eyelids fluttered closed and he leaned into her warm hand as it caressed his angular face.

"No." Belle whispered, her lips less than an inch from his.

"_Love is strength_."

And she pressed her soft, crimson mouth to his; molding their lips together in True Love's Kiss.

* * *

"_Goddamn you!"_

He pried her mouth from his and flung her across the room like a rag doll.

Belle skidded against the stone wall and covered her tingling mouth, trying to hold onto Love's True Kiss.

"Rumpelstiltskin!" she cried through trembling fingers.

"_I said never kiss me!"_

_H_e placed his claw across his forehead and leaned back against the banquet table.

_"There will never be True Love's Kiss!"_

Belle fought to hold onto her heart full of love as he cursed her.

"I love you." She whispered, her voice thick with unshed tears.

"_You_…" he snarled, pointing at her.

"Why won't you let me love you?!" she cried; now a terrified crumple of blue silk and maple waves.

_"Please, let me love you!"_

He frowned.

"How could I let _you_ love _me_? Your own _father_ didn't want you!" he looked at her, huddled in the corner like a kicked dog.

"_How could I_?"

He giggled menacingly, "I am the _Dark One!_ Not some_ weak_, stupid fool who is swept away by your beauty Princess!"

He dug his blackened nails into the table,,

_"Belle the Brave…"_ he sang as he stalked towards her.

"Beauty who _'tamed'_ the Beast, well…..._'tried'_"

He giggled and Belle covered her ears as she tried to hold onto her shattered pride.

"I don't need _you_ dearie."

Rumpelstiltskin stilled and looked down at her.

Like she could be nothing more than a piece of trash at his feet...

"_I need my power_."

And he was gone in a column of burgundy smoke.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Thank you all for the amazing feedback!**_

_**I love and appreciate your interest in my little story, I hope it's worthy of you all!**_

_**Chapter 10**_

* * *

Belle cried that night.

She cried until the pink glow of dawn peeked over the snowcapped mountains and the darkness of night faded into pastel morning.

When she was little girl her mother told her that the colors that came early in the morning were actually Aurora, Goddess of the dawn, as she ran across the night sky, bringing the day; and the beautiful hues that rose up from oblivion were her skirts flowing behind her.

Belle smiled at the memory.

But, despite it, her tears continued to flow onto the cold, stone floor where she had lain all night wallowing in her misery and grief that was too great to bear.

Rumplestiltskin had rejected her love, yet again, and Belle felt lower than the mud caked to his boots.

She traced the cracks in the floor, her frail body constantly racked with inhuman sobs, and all the while through her pain wondering _where_ her True Love had fled to.

Cowardliness was his area of expertise, along with detachment and revenge.

Belle smiled a little at the thought of him hearing her say that, _knowing_ it would make it him livid.

Maybe it would make him feel just a little bit of the anger she now felt…..

* * *

Belle wanted to die.

She wanted to seep down through the seams in the ancient stone and disappear forever.

It's not like_ he_ would miss her, or _anyone _for that matter...

This was _not_ supposed to happen; this was not the _love_ she had dreamed of.

"_Belle the Brave."_ She whispered in a raspy croak.

"The girl who tried to tame the Beast" she hid her face behind her cold hands, _"...and failed."_

She rolled onto her back, the silk of her nightgown now damp against the stones, as her little hands clutched at the hole in her breast.

She could _feel_ it.

A gaping wound, an open pit that matched the size of his fist, and it _burned_.

Belle clawed at her breast while she screamed his name, his _wretched_ name, from the top of her lungs.

"_Rumplestiltskin! Rumplestiltskin! Rumplestiltskin!"_

Her voice cracked and wheezed; and she rolled onto her side.

_ "_The legend says three times….."

But the legend proved false, and he didn't come.

He didn't find her.

* * *

After her tears had somewhat subsided, and she lay staring up at the ceiling lethargically, Belle drifted off into a disturbed sleep…..

She was in Midas' wood again, curled up on her soggy palate under her makeshift lean-to trying to stay warm and stop the bleeding from a deep gash in her foot.

It was _so_ dark, not even the stars illuminated the wet ground underneath her.

But in the distance, in the trees, she saw something flicker.

_Fast._

One minute there then it was gone.

Over and over again Belle saw the little light, only a flash, and she rubbed her tired eyes trying to make out what it was.

It was quick, and it seemed to be getting closer to her.

Another brief twinkle of metallic.

No…_golden..._

And Belle knew immediately what it was.

_Who it was._

She wrapped her old cape tighter around her shoulders as if it would camouflage her from his all-seeing eyes.

"You know its pointless trying to sneak up on me!" she yelled into the night.

"_When you glow in the dark!"_

The flash stopped abruptly, and when Rumplestiltskin stepped from the darkness, her broken heart leapt in her chest.

Belle stood shakily and let her cover fall to the ground.

"_You found me_." she choked.

He smiled and began walking to her with long strides.

Belle wavered in her spot with wet hair plastered to her face and neck and mud inches thick on her hems.

"You found me in the darkness."

She mumbled, reaching out to him as if she wanted to see if he was real.

"No love." he whispered grasping her searching hand, "You found me."

Their fingers linked together and Rumplestiltskin pulled her to him.

She could feel the _True Love_ radiating from him.

"Belle_"_ he said softly.

"_Get up_."

And she did.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Hello Dearies!**_

_**I cannot believe the all the wonderful feedback my little story is getting omg! Ya'll are too kind with the follows and favorites! **_

_**I'm loving the reviews, every single one of them! The perception of my readers has left me in AWE!**_

_**Thank ya'll sooo much!**_

_**:)**_

_**Chapter 11**_

* * *

Belle stopped worrying after the first week.

Her crying had diminished significantly after the second, and by the beginning of the third week she had even begun to eat again.

She was fairly certain that Rumpelstiltskin was nowhere in Dark Castle.

_The coward had truly left her all alone._

As she explored the dark corridors by day and read by the fire at night; there was no sign of the Dark One.

No hint that he may be avoiding her or perhaps even hiding from her, nothing but silence and cold.

Even with the fire blazing, and Belle's perpetual stoking, it was _always_ bitterly cold.

And _so_ quiet...almost deafening at times...

Tonight however, in her attempt to fight the quiet and loneliness, she was huddled up in the library with her nose buried deep in an adventure novel; the ever present fire roaring in the massive fireplace.

Pirates, sword fights, and faraway lands painted vivid pictures in Belle's mind.

_She had always found solace in her imagination._

She tucked her feet underneath her and flipped the thick parchment page to an illustration of a treasure map and followed the black dotted line with her finger.

Belle sighed and laid her book in her lap.

She looked around the library idly, and instinctively her eyes were drawn to the plaque placed above the mantel.

She had read the engraving a million times.

"We may sit in our library and yet be in all corners of the earth."

And every time she read it, she heard Rumpelstiltskin's voice reciting it to her with the same fluency as when he first unlocked the library as a 'gift' for her.

He _haunted_ her.

Every minute of every hour he consumed her tormented mind.

_The mind that she had given so blindly._

It was supposed to have been Happily Ever After_._

From the moment her lips met his it was supposed to be the ending of that black curse he clung to with such fervor.

_But it wasn't._

And for the life of her, Belle could not fathom _why_ Rumpelstiltskin wanted to remain the "Dark One."

To wield this infinite power that cloaks him in loneliness and misery.

He_ loathed_ deal-making, yet he also seemed to so eager; as if he couldn't not resist the urge to con a poor, unfortunate soul.

_He was bound to them._

But he was a man once, an ordinary man.

_Tell me about your son…_

Belle's fingers curled against her scalp as she tried to hold onto the memory of their first kiss.

How his sickly green-gold skin seemed to melt away to reveal a normal, _human _complexion.

And his how his eyes faded into a warm chocolate brown, not the dilated, searching reptilian eyes that she had grown accustomed to; leering at her and reflecting the rot of his curse.

"He was….._beautiful."_

Belle whispered as she hugged her knees to her chest; she hadn't even bothered to change from her nightclothes.

She had no modesty anymore and neither did she care.

Her russet braid hung limply over her shoulder, tied off with a pale blue ribbon; because _he_ always loved her in blue.

Belle took the end of it in her hand and stroked her fingers over the silk, letting herself slowly remember….

When suddenly, a mighty gust of wind blew open the balcony doors with such ferocity, it was a wonder the glass didn't shatter against the stone walls.

Belle jumped, her head whipped around and she moaned.

_"Oh nooo…"_

She hopped up from the chair and scurried over to the French doors.

"Damn, bloody mountain top…" she mumbled as she pushed the doors closed and latched the lock, and something caught her eye.

A light was burning in the window of Rumpelstiltskin's alchemy.

_But he's gone…_

"He's come back."

She whispered, blinking several times to make sure it wasn't her imagination, "He's come back!"

"Rumpelstiltskin." She breathed as the smile stretched across her face.

And, as always, her pride lost.

* * *

Pulling up the lace-laden hem of her gown Belle ran from the library.

Through the main foyer, up the stairs, and down the labyrinth of neglected corridors that lead to the west wing.

_To the highest room of the tallest tower_.

Where she had been specifically told _not_ to go inside of…

But, it was _calling_ her.

And after climbing the winding wooden stairs, magically illuminated by torches Belle knew_ she _most definitely _did not_ light, she came to the door that had a wide band of lamp light at the bottom.

Her True Love; _the coward._

* * *

Belle was _panting._

Sweating even, but despite it she thrust out a trembling hand, turned the golden knob, and walked inside.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Dearies, Dearies, Dearies! **_

_**I hope you all enjoyed chapter 11 and the little cliffhanger…..I'm a sucker for a cliffhanger. I just can't help it! **_

_**;)**_

_**S/o to all of my followers, favorites, and reviewers!**_

_**Ya'll are the shit!**_

_**Chapter 12**_

* * *

Belle's eyes were glued to the long wooden slats of the floor as her slipper clad feet stepped across the threshold.

The whole room reeked of _him._

Magic, black and heavy, along with the surprising sweetness of fresh straw permeated the workroom.

This is where he spent all of his time; locked away playing with life-threating potions and who knows what else…

This was his lair and he stayed here more than he did his own apartments.

_More than he did with her._

Yet, Belle couldn't feel him.

She had always been able to sense when he either about to enter the room or somewhere near; and now she felt _nothing_.

It felt the same in his alchemy as the rest of the castle.

_Forsaken._

Belle didn't need to look up to know he wouldn't be there, but she looked anyway.

_Because once upon a time she had been brave._

She looked for the man inside of the Beast; she looked for love inside of a black heart; and now she looked for a sign.

_But she found nothing._

And her poor, crucified heart dropped to her feet.

The last ember of hope that maybe he would forgive, died within her.

The emptiness of the alchemy gaped back at her like the hole in her chest.

Except this was more mocking than painful.

Almost as if the room was saying, "Do you not see you foolish girl? You're not _worth_ coming back to. _You_ drove him away."

_Even the castle knew…._

* * *

Belle wrapped her lace dressing gown tighter around her body.

"Then who lit the lantern?"

She said aloud, her head cocked slightly to the left.

_Like she really expected an answer._

She rolled her eyes and crossed the room slowly, ready for any traps or spells that might be set for trespassers since Rumplestiltskin had drilled it in her mind from the beginning _never_ to go into the west wing.

But he was gone now.

And Belle knew that Rumplestiltskin _sometimes _had callers.

It was not something that occurred on a regular basis, but more often than not, it was usually some desperate soul desiring a potion or talisman of some sort.

_For a price….._

But surely no one would have the gall to intrude upon the _Dark One's_ alchemy!

Regardless if he was there or not…...no one except _Belle _of course, and she could care less about the 'consequences.'

He no longer intimidated her.

_He only hurt her_.

* * *

Her eyes roamed all over the room, from multi-colored glass bottles on shelves, to hundreds of books stacked along the back wall, and his long work bench covered with what Belle assumed to be magical….._things._

It was the only room save for the grand hall, that looked truly lived in.

Belle's fingers danced over the spines of ancient books.

"_Spell books_." she whispered.

"_Enchanting Inanimate Objects_." Belle read off one of the spines.

_"With Edged Tools." _

Her fingers continued to jump from one book to the other, but she stopped when her eyes fell on a particularly large book on the fourth shelf up.

"_The Eumenides._"

Belle pulled out the well-bound black book and blew some of the dust off of the worn leather cover.

She opened to the first page and rubbed the thin paper between her thumb and forefinger.

"This doesn't look like a magic book."

She flipped the near transparent pages, skimming over some of the words, when she discovered in the very middle of the book there was a hollowed out rectangular space and lying in the rectangular cut out was the _queerest _knife Belle had ever seen.

"_Why would he hide a knife in a novel_?" she thought to herself as she picked up the handle with two fingers.

The dagger itself was tarnished and beat into a wavy shape; probably more for show than for function.

She pulled it from the pages and ran the pads of her fingers over the cold metal.

Belle dragged her fingers across the blade; it didn't even break her skin.

"It's not even sharp!" she exclaimed.

The handle was heavy, too heavy to wield in battle or wear in a boot, and when Belle turned the knife over, her breath hitched in her throat.

"_Rumplestiltskin_."

She whispered, clutching the handle tightly.

It was pure evil.

_Belle could feel it._

She could smell the brassy odor of malevolence emanating from the knife along with the metallic tang of blood.

This was dangerous magic.

But, she couldn't bring herself to drop it; it was made to fit in her hand.

Belle was enchanted, as was the magic of the dagger.

She was so enraptured in fact, that she didn't even register Rumplestiltskin's presence as he stepped from the darkened doorway.

With her back unknowingly to him, she traced the letters of his name that were etched into the steel.

"_Rumplestiltskin_" she recited breathlessly.

"Hello Belle."

* * *

_**Belle found the dagger….shit's about to get real.**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**Waaahhhh! **_

_**61 reviews! 62 followers! 29 faves! I cannot thank you all enough for the support!**_

_**On with the story! **_

_**Enter Rumpelstiltskin inflamed with the magic of the dagger therefore making him enslaved to Belle because she's holding the shit.**_

_**But she doesn't know anything about the knife…yet.**_

_**THERE ARE SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 2X12 AT THE END! **_

_**READ WITH CAUTION!**_

_**Chapter 13!**_

* * *

That voice; Her master's voice.

Belle spun around.

"Rumplestil-"

But the words died in her throat when she saw him, lingering in the doorway, hovering between inside and out.

He looked…_inhuman_.

He looked _awful._

Belle blinked and brushed a few loose strands of hair away from her face.

"R-Rumplestiltskin?"

He didn't look at her; instead he just stared down at the floor, not moving an inch.

His hair obscured most of his face and his chest rose and fell laboriously, as if he was terribly winded.

Belle's grip tightened on the knife and she carefully stepped forward.

"Are you ill?"

Rumpelstiltskin shook his head and continued to stare at the floor.

"Are you well?"

He nodded affirmative and kept staring, transfixed, at the floor.

Belle noticed that he wouldn't look her in the eye.

"Is there something wrong Rumpelstiltskin?" she said, trying to suppress the alarm in her voice.

Again, he shook his head and Belle took another small step closer to him.

"W-Why are you not s-speaking to me?"

He sighed deeply.

"I haven't had…_permission_."

Belle halted.

"Why would you need 'permission' to speak?"

"Because it has yet to be given." he said matter-of-factly.

"Mistress."

* * *

"_Mistress?!"_

Belle repeated in disbelief, her hand still holding tight to the dagger.

"Why do you call me _Mistress_, Rumpelstiltskin?"

"Because you are!" he replied.

"I shall heed your every command!" he smiled slightly, "Y_ou_ are _my _Mistress now."

"Do not _mock_ me!" she wailed angrily.

Rumpelstiltskin flinched like a skittish mare.

"Do not _toy_ with me as you do everyone else!"

She screamed, letting the book fall to the ground with a loud thud.

She glared at him; all the hurt and resentment rushing to the surface of her mind at once, like a great flood.

_And Belle was drowning._

"Why did you come back?" she hissed bitterly.

"Because you bade me come." he replied; humility coating every word.

"I-I don't understand."

"You called me and I came." he replied surely.

"I will _always_ come when you call me Mistress."

"_I've been calling you for three weeks!"_ she yelled, her eyes welling with tears of frustration.

"_Why have you not come until now?!"_

He remained silent.

"_Answer me!" _Belle screamed as hot tears began to trickle down her cheeks.

"Why have you not returned until now?"

"Because..." he rubbed his temples as he searched for a way to explain.

"I am _bound _to you."

"_What do you mean_?"

"I must-"

"_Look me in the eye!"_

Rumpelstiltskin swallowed and sheepishly rose his head, his wavy curtain of hair fell back over his sharp face.

And that's when Belle saw his eyes.

"My God." She whispered, covering her mouth with her free hand.

_They were black._

Rumpelstiltskin stared at her un-blinking, awaiting any order that she might give him.

Her wish was his command now.

He was a slave to her behest.

* * *

The knife trembled in her grasp.

"Y-Your eyes." She stuttered as she pointed a shaking finger at him.

"Do they dis-please you?" he said, hanging his head again in docility.

Belle stepped closer to him.

"Why are they black? What has happened to you?"

"I am _enslaved_ to you now!"

"_Enslaved?"_

"My eyes are the only way you can tell my loyalty Mistress."

"Tell what?" she muttered, stopping directly in front of him.

"That I belong to you of course!" he pointed to the knife as he held her gaze.

"My eyes are the gateway into my soul."

He giggled again, the high-pitched shriek Belle had grown so familiar with.

"..._and now even that belongs to you_."

"You have no soul." She spat callously.

"As you say Mistress."

"Stop calling me '_Mistress_' Rumpelstiltskin! I'm Belle! _Belle_!" she shuddered.

"Do you not remember me?"

"Oh, I know exactly who you are."

"Then tell me!" she tipped his chin up with her fingertip.

"Tell me who I am to you."

He leaned into her touch as a pet horse or dog would do.

Belle closed her eyes and caressed his mud-streaked cheek.

"Who am I to you Rumpelstiltskin?"

"_My True Love."_

* * *

_**WELL, WELL, WELL…..**_

_**I was shocked by tonight's episode of Once.**_

_**Cora + Rumpelstiltskin = PAST LOVERS?!**_

_**O_o**_

_**Needless to say...that shit took me aback.**_

_**Nooooo, it should be equals mortal enemies! Equals hated rivals!**_

_**Not 'master' and 'lover' **_

_**I just hope Regina isn't like Rumpelstiltskin's bastard chid or something off the wall...**_


	14. Chapter 14

_**Hey ya'll!**_

_**Two chapters in one night!**_

_**As always, thanks for the support and reviews and just being fucking awesome!**_

_**Chapter 14**_

* * *

The knife slipped from Belle's hand and fell to the floor with a clatter.

"Say it again!" she beamed as she pressed her body against Rumplestiltskin's and looped her arms around his neck.

_"Tell me again!"_

He went rigid in her embrace, but Belle didn't realize it; nor did she see the color as it bled back into the bottomless black pits that were his eyes.

Her elation eclipsed all of her senses.

She pressed her face against his chest and closed her eyes.

"I beg of you, say it again Rumplestiltskin."

"_Get away from me!" _he roared, forcing her from him.

"What-" Belle started, but she was cut off by his roaring voice.

"_How did you find it?!_"

"_Find what!?_" she wailed back as she felt his nails dig into her shoulders.

"Rumplestiltskin let me go! You're hurting me!"

"Oh no dearie..." he hissed, "Do not play innocent with me! I stole that from you long ago!"

She writhed and tried to pull herself away from him; pleading for him to stop.

But he was lost in his blind fury.

The rage that had once cost him a beloved son.

The rage that brought this horrible curse upon him.

He wasn't Rumplestiltskin anymore, he was the Dark One; he was a predator.

_And poor Belle was his prey._

* * *

He yanked her against his torso.

"That's right dearie," he giggled, "let that brave façade crumble, I always knew you were a scared little bitch underneath it all."

Belle screamed but he clapped a muddy hand over her mouth.

"Why are you screaming?" he whispered, kicking the dagger across the room so Belle couldn't have it.

"_I haven't even fucked you yet_."

Belle grabbed at the torn collar of his shirt and whimpered against his hand.

"That dagger, _Mistress,_ is the _only_ thing that can kill me." he snarled.

Her blue eyes widened and she ran her fingers up the side of his neck and he grinned down at her.

"Look at you, you little wanton." he hissed as her hand dove beneath the ruined silk of his tunic.

"That dagger is my _only_ weakness," he paused and let his free hand gather the hem of her nightdress.

"..._after you_."

He kneaded the soft flesh of her buttocks, "That knife can make me _do anything..._" he removed his hand from her mouth.

"..._say anything_."

"I-I didn't know." She breathed.

"Of course you didn't." he yanked her head back by her braid.

"I had you….._enthralled_." she awed.

"The key word there is '_had_' dearie."

His lips curled over his rotted teeth as he wound Belle's braid tighter around his fist.

Belle licked her lips and brushed a few stray curls away from his gilded face.

"You love me," he leaned into her palm.

"You cannot deny it."

He stared thoughtfully into her eyes; those loving, _trusting_ eyes, and ripped the bottom half of her nightgown away from her legs.

"How could I not love you?" he said low.

"_You_, who knows my black heart and sees how mangled my soul is and yet _still_ love me."

Rumplestiltskin looked down at her heaving chest, "You see the coward who hides inside of the monster-"

"And I love them both." she interjected as she molded her body against his.

He smiled shyly and sank his hand between them, and slowly he parted her thighs.

"You found me."

He whispered against the shell of her ear, his breath tickling her neck.

"I will always find you." Belle moaned as he stroked his finger down her seam.

He strangled a moan of his own when he felt her cup his hardness through his leather trousers.

"_Belle_…"

"I've waited so long for you." she whispered against his neck as he snuck one long finger halfway into her wetness.

He smiled against her hair when she bucked into his hand.

"Ready for me?" he chuckled.

"_Always."_

He pulled his finger from her sodden heat and Belle moaned in frustration at the loss of his touch.

"Come."

He guided her to his alchemists table and pushed all of his beakers and books aside, not caring in the slightest where they fell.

He silently directed her to stand in front of him and pressed her to his rigid groin as his hand splayed out across her lower stomach.

"Bend over."

He whispered into her ear while raking the remnants of her nightgown up around her waist.

Belle obliged and flayed her upper body out across the hard wood of his work table; her braid fell uselessly over her shoulder.

Rumplestiltskin nudged her thighs apart with his knee and freed his aching length with a few tugs of his leather ties.

He placed one hand on the small of her back and grasped his throbbing manhood with the other.

"_Please_….." he heard her moan from the table, those cock-twitching moans that he heard even in his sleep.

"_Dark One_…"

That's all it took.

With one push Rumplestiltskin sheathed himself inside of Belle's scorching flower.

He swore she had gotten tighter; if that was even possible.

She hummed from underneath him.

He hissed as he pulled out and plunged back in, watching her muscles cling to him with each thrust.

She sobbed, feeling him ravager her insides with each push.

Never before had their love-making felt as primal and urgent as it did now with Belle bent over his work table, her nails desperately clawing at the slats as he pounded her, deeper and deeper with each thrust.

She wailed when she felt him wrap her braid back around his wrist, pulling her neck back and slinking his other arm around her waist to push her closer to him.

His mouth was against her ear, his breath angry and un-even.

"Belle…." he whined as his movements became erratic and unsynchronized.

And when he felt her feminine walls spasm around his iron cock, her name was the only human noise he could grit out.

He felt her chest heave with sobs.

"Don't stop!" she cried.

He continued to pummel her, even as he felt his own release creep upon him.

His thrusts became urgent.

And with one final push; he emptied himself inside of Belle's velvet heat.

Like a true Beast.


	15. Chapter 15

_**I have had legit mini-writers block.**_

_**I had no idea what to write after chapter 14!**_

_**At. A. Loss.**_

_**Then it hit me like a ton of bricks!**_

_**S/O to the wonderful readers! **_

_**:D**_

_**Chapter 15**_

* * *

Rumpelstiltskin closed his eyes and rested his hands on her hips; he had yet to unsheathe himself from her heat.

The way she molded around him perfectly was a feeling he was is no hurry to rid himself of.

She was like a drug to him; more potent now than ever as he relished in her pulsating core, the screams of their mixed pleasure still fresh in the deafening silence of the alchemy.

She was the ailment and the cure all in one.

* * *

"Tell me."

Belle's weak rasp cut through the haze of Rumpelstiltskin's mind like a hot knife.

"_Tell me._" she beseeched, her voice cloaked in wounded pride and longing.

He knew what she wanted.

And, even without the dagger, he couldn't help but answer her now.

His callused fingers, stained with black magic, caressed her hips lovingly.

He marveled at the difference; flawless porcelain white against disgusting metallic-green.

His blackened nails skimmed over her spine as he traced lazy patterns across her derriere.

"I love you." He rasped.

"_I will always love you_ _Belle._"

* * *

A few hours later Belle sat on the rug at Rumpelstiltskin's feet, eager to hear the story behind the mysterious magic knife that bore his name.

There could be no more secrets between them; no matter how painful.

Now it was Rumpelstiltskin's turn to do the brave thing.

No more lies.

_Because it was True Love._

"_This_….." he began as he held the knife out in front of him for Belle to study, "is what made me."

She tucked her bare little feet underneath her skirts as she sidled up to her love.

"_Rumpelstiltskin_…" she read off the gleaming metal.

"Once upon a time it read "_Zoso_." he mused as he watched her soft little fingers trace each letter.

"When I killed the old Dark One with this blade, I inherited his powers," He gestured to his face, "And became thus."

Belle's clear eyes jumped from the wavy knife to his shimmering face.

"You actually killed someone for this….._curse_?"

"I didn't know that _killing _him entailed _becoming_ him."

"You wanted to enthrall him then?"

She looked down to her hands, "Like I had you…"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Rumpelstiltskin sighed and leaned back in his chair; he idly fingered the handle of the dagger as he searched for the 'right' way to explain his torment of a life to his one True Love.

She gazed up at him from his feet and placed her hand lightly on his knee.

It was reassuring in its simplicity, and it gave him the courage he needed to share his tale.

* * *

"There is only one other person I have loved besides you." he said as his voice took on a new, low resonance.

"Your son?"

Rumpelstiltskin nodded and placed his hand over hers.

"He was all that I had."

He smiled weakly, "He was my life and I loved him, but we were poor, _shamefully poor_, and I was…maimed in the first Ogre's war."

"How?" Belle chirped from her perch on the floor.

"My leg was ruined and so was my name when I returned home from the war."

His eyes darted to his opposite leg, "_Useless_."

"_Rumplestil-_"

He closed his eyes and pulled his hand from hers.

"Don't start with the coddling Belle, please."

She looked down at her ivory skirt, "You've always thought the worst of yourself."

"_Because I've always been the worst_."

He leaned against the arm of the chair and rubbed his forehead with his hand.

"I am a coward and a monster," he shuddered, "and a….._Beast_."

"But I can see the good in you, and so could your son."

Her crystalline eyes reflected the hope that filled her heart.

The hope that she would carry for him for the rest of eternity; through True Love's kiss and Happily Ever After; through daggers and deals; whether it is making love to one another or making war.

Belle would always fight for his heart, because she knew it was true.

No matter how he tried to hide it, or how nasty a play he put on, she could still see the good thriving inside of the bad.

She had always seen it.

* * *

"_Belle, the never failing optimist_!" Rumpelstiltskin giggled mockingly.

"Still trying to tame a Beast dearie?"

He pushed his curtain of wavy brown hair back from his laughing face, "Still trying to pull the 'man' from the 'monster?'"

"Yes." She replied, defiance dancing through every motion. "Someone has to fight."

She stood and locked eyes with her love.

"We can't all hide behind cowardice Rumpelstiltskin."


	16. Chapter 16

_**Helloooo Dearies!**_

_**Sorry I've been taking so long!**_

_**I don't know about ya'll but I'm like excited as f*** for *Once* Sunday night….**_

_**But what I'm really, really, really ready for is "The Miller's Daughter" **_

_**I'm ready to find out about this Cora-Rumplestiltskin-Regina triangle of mystery shit. **_

_**Seriously.**_

_**But, here we go with some new!**_

_**Chapter 16!**_

* * *

"Cowardice was all I had to cloak myself with." he sighed heavily, "Before magic that is…."

"_Magic_…"

Belle echoed as she turned and walked over to the mantle and leaned against the edge, cradling her head in her hands.

The word left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Rumplestitlskin remained silent as he watched her, twirling the dagger absently between his thumb and forefinger.

"Sometimes I regret coming here." She said quietly.

She turned to him to gage his reaction; but saw nothing but an empty pair of smothering eyes.

"There are times when Iwish that I could erase you from my mind…" she looked thoughtfully at herself in the mirror above the mantle and touched her collarbone lightly.

"…_and my body_."

Pausing, she glanced at him and continued, "If it wasn't for the kiss I would never-"

"_Never what?_" he snapped, digging the blade into the arm of his chair.

" -think it was True Love."

He rolled his eyes and casually slung one leg over the other, totally ignoring the frayed edges of the now-ruined crimson covering.

"Well, I am a _difficult _man to love." He replied flippantly as his hands danced in a dismissive gesture.

Belle shot him a hateful glare and narrowed her icy eyes.

"Believe me…" she hissed with growing ire, "I know."

He wrinkled his nose in distaste.

Her eyes grazed him up and down slumped in that chair; assessing their painful silence and waiting for him to do _something_, say _something_…

"You're just going to leave it at that then?" she seethed.

Rumplestiltskin rested his head against the back of his chair, "What do you want me to say dearie? That everything will be alright? That "_True Love_" will find a way?"

He forcefully yanked the blade out of the chair and stared at it.

"You know that I love you Belle, what more do you want of me?"

"_What more do I want of you?!_"

Her hands tangled wildly in her loose waves as she stared at him in disbelief.

"I _want_ for you to trust me, to be _honest_ with me!"

She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, "And to be a man."

As soon as the words had left her mouth she knew she had made a grievous error.

His cutting laugh assaulted Belle's ears.

He leapt from his seat and was before her in one stride, anger and amusement both danced across his ruddy face.

"So the truth comes out at last!"

The dagger clattered to the floor abandoned; but he was oblivious as he laughed heartily in her face.

Hearing that laugh made her blood run cold.

_It was terrifying. _

That evil, manic shrill could make grown men cower in fear; but Belle never was one to cower.

She had always faced her beasts head on.

"You mean you don't love me the way that I am? I thought you loved the monster as well as the…._man_."

He trailed a spindly finger down the side of her face and whispered huskily, "We all cannot hide behind beauty Belle."

"There's no decent way of talking to you. You twist and distort my words like you do people, Rumplestitlskin."

She slapped his offending hand away from her clean face.

"_Oooohhh dearie…._" he cackled as one long arm coiled around her waist. "You know it drives me simply mad when you say my name."

"Stop it Rumplestiltskin."

She forced her voice into an emotionless timbre.

_He could not do this to her now._

"Love is blind." He purred into her ear. "Isn't that what you've always preached to me?"

"Yes_._" She bit out as she struggled against him, "But I'm not so sure that this is love anymore."

"And you're always _so _sure of yourself."

He grabbed a handful of her hair and inhaled deeply, "...aren't you Belle dear?"

"I thought I was once." She whispered hatefully as she locked eyes with him.

"Hmph." He mumbled dejectedly, letting his arm drop from her waist.

His mirth had disappeared as quickly as it had come.

Belle's novel melancholy sometimes had that effect on him.

He turned from her staunch figure and rubbed his forehead; a sign of annoyance that Belle knew all too well.

"You just keep clawing deeper and deeper don't you?" he sighed.

Belle angrily wiped away the swift clear tears that had unwillingly leaked from her stubborn eyes as she brushed gracelessly past him.

She paused however, and looked down at the knife lying by the chair.

"I suggest you pick that up Rumplestiltskin."

Her shimmering eyes darted to his dull gold face.

"You graduated me remember?"

She pulled her free-flowing hair away from the white column of her neck to reveal several angry bruises littered across the snowy terrain of her throat.

Her mouth pressed into a thin line as she trailed her delicate fingers down the path of savage bite marks; and then in a frosty voice she dug her claws even deeper into his haunted psyche.

"From your maid to your whore."


	17. Chapter 17

_**I hope ya'll enjoyed the last chapter!**_

_**Chapter 17**_

* * *

For nearly ten days they existed in silence.

_Complete, deliberate and hateful silence._

He barely saw her save for a slip of light fabric rounding a doorframe or a quick glimpse of her faraway eyes as she sat his plate down before him.

And, if he was lucky enough, he would occasionally pass through the lingering scent of rose-water that she dabbed in the crook of her arm and behind her ears.

That was basically the only proof he had that she was still alive since she was now making herself very, very scarce.

In his presence, however limited, she constantly wore a mask of supreme discomfort and agitation which to his dismay terribly marred her lovely features.

He coped with it by staring either out of the window or down at the floor.

Pride is a terrible sin.

So, Rumplestiltskin added it to his extensive list along with greed, vainglory and, at the present, painful incurable lust.

Every night he dreamed of her coming to him and every morning he awoke with an old familiar rigidity to the south.

He despised himself for becoming so dependent upon her love in such a fast amount of time.

But she was so willing and _so_ beautiful.

He had forgotten what it was like when the body grew used to regular love making; and what happened when it was suddenly cut off like a tap.

_It was torture._

Lust was one of many character flaws bestowed upon him by the curse, as was its nature, but he found it perplexing that he could actually _love _what with all this evil marinating inside of him ready to seep out at any given opportunity.

He knew lust very well, but this love had him baffled.

He loved Baelfire, of course, but that was in a totally different category than what profound love he was feeling for…._her_.

He had lusted after a few inconsequential women in his many centuries, but they all were exactly that, _inconsequential_.

Sometimes when he was with her he felt like he could fly; he felt so much joy just by making her laugh it almost made the kiss seem worthwhile if he could hear that melody every day for the rest of his life.

To love Belle was an all-consuming thing.

Yet still he also found joy in hurting her.

It was ecstasy for him when he insulted her and cut her down by her insecurities.

It was the beast inside of him that enjoyed it so.

He had a gift for sniffing out shame, and Belle was s_mothered_ by hers.

He could see the dark shame practically dripping off of her when he pushed himself from atop her breathless and sated, he could smell it's pungency when his clawed hands groped under her petticoats to pleasure her, and he could hear it in her muffled sobs when he pressed her naked body to his and tried to help her bear the aching weight of being his whore yet again.

What could he say?

It came with the job.

* * *

His footfalls were heavy against the dense stone floors of the east wing as he strode down the dimly lit hall on mission to Belle's chamber door.

_Enough was enough._

It had been well over two weeks of enduring her malicious silence and Rumpelstiltskin was very, very tired of it.

He passed hurriedly by wall-length portraits of people whom he had the slightest idea of knowing, dusty suits of armor, and frightening marble statues of demons and gargoyles protectively standing on either side.

His jaw was set in authority as his white blouse billowed open immodestly showing almost all of his gilded chest and stomach; but he did not care.

_It wasn't as if she would be seeing anything new…._

His arms hung at his sides and he clenched his fists in nervousness.

He passed by numerous doors and un-curtained windows to finally stop at a dark ornate door on his left.

_Belle's door._

He turned to face it and brushed his hair back out of his eyes before lifting his hand to knock.

Two torches burned on either side; he ignored the way his flesh glittered in the light….

He knocked hard twice and almost immediately heard a sweet lilting, "Come in Rumpelstiltskin."

Without a second's hesitation, he gripped the golden latch, pushed the door open and stepped confidently into Belle's private salon.

* * *

His eyes didn't have to search for her in the beautiful room lighted only by a roaring fire.

She was seated facing him on an ivory chaise with one of her ever-present books resting openly on her lap.

She looked like a Queen on her throne and Rumpelstiltskin's mouth twitched gleefully in spite of himself.

"Yes?" she said inquiringly.

He glanced to her outlined in the flames, "Belle this is silly."

"Whatever do you mean?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes, "This stalemate between us."

He closed the door and turned back to her, "If you're trying to prove a point my dear you're wasting your time."

Belle closed her novel and casually laid it on the little table beside of her, "Oh I don't think our silence is what I have wasted my time on."

He pinched the bridge of his nose and placed his hand on his waist, "And what, pray tell, does that mean?"

"Whatever you wish it to." She clipped coldly.

Belle crossed her stocking covered ankles over one another and adjusted the wide collar of her golden dressing gown.

Rumpelstiltskin watched her as he tried to invent a witty comeback but found himself too distracted by her state of undress.

_Belle had him unnerved as always…._

She was a minx if ever one lived to receive him dressed only in her chemise, corset, and pantalettes with only an open dressing gown to shield her from his bereft eyes.

_She would be a goddess even if she dressed in a russet sack._

His ponderous silence stretched on for another few moments before Belle finally broke it.

"Does this visit merit a reason? I must say I am taken aback that the _famous_ Dark One would seek private audience with me."

Belle raised her eyebrow and lowered her head a fraction, "Alas sir, I apologize if you've come to deal with me for I have nothing left of value for you to take."

"Do you think that I would be taking up any of your_ precious_ time if I didn't have a reason? We both know very well I haven't come because of your charming personality and maidenly demeanor."

"Well you've taken other things that were "precious" to me, why should I think my time any different?"

"Damnit Belle!" Rumpelstiltskin growled, "Why must you pick at me?!"

He waved his hands wildly to illustrate his anger.

"_Why do you harass me with the same old sins?!_"

He gritted his teeth and pointed at her. "You play the virtuous princess!"

He held her gaze, "But how quickly you forget yourself Belle, as I recall it you _begged _for me to bed you." He paused, "You beg me still."

Her face turned scarlet with humility.

"I suggest you leave now." she hissed with her jaw locked in indignation.

He sauntered forward, confident in his cutting tongue and gripped the back of a richly upholstered chair.

"Why leave? I thought you preferred for me to _come_ my dear." he snapped.

"It's always the same with you isn't it?!" she roared as she rose from her lounge.

"Always the same quips and snide remarks cutting me down where I feel it the most!"

She slapped her hand across her exposed bosom, "You know _exactly_ how to wound me."

He scoffed and toyed with the lace on his cuff, "Please, save your monologues for the stage my dear."

Belle gathered her gown and flew by him ferociously.

"Get Out!" She barked as she yanked the heavy door open with such force the train of her gown blew back from her legs.

He kept his back to her as if he didn't hear her, but his grip had turned deadly on the couch and pieces of the woodwork along the back crumbled in his hands.

For a few heavy moments both were silent, then Rumpelstiltskin spoke softly.

"Would you like to leave here Belle?"

Belle blinked in confusion and slowly her hand dropped from the latch.

"I-I'm sorry, w-what?" she stuttered.

She felt the color drain from her face and she idly wondered if she were to faint would he catch her.

"I said," his back still to her, "Would you like to leave here."

"From this r-room you mean?"

"No my dear," he sighed, "from this castle."

Belle's shaking hand shot up to her mouth and her arm curled protectively around her corseted stomach.

"And from me." He added as he turned to face her; his face long with sadness.

It was the same look he had worn the night he broke her virginity.

_She hated that look._

Her eyes were wide and glassy as she leaned against the door for support.

Her mind reeled with words, but her mouth couldn't form them.

She looked helplessly to Rumpelstiltskin who simply looked down to the floor.

_Coward._

She pressed her arm tighter against the boning of her corset and blinked back the hot tears that had begun to flood her eyes.

A light sob broke through her tight throat but it was muffled by her fingers,

Rumpelstiltskin looked thoughtfully to her.

"I think you would live a happier life away from me."

Belle closed her eyes and pressed her palm harder against her mouth.

_He could not do this to her; not now..._

"I cannot give you what you want Belle, and I will never be able to become what you need."

He leaned against the ruined chair and folded his arms across his chest.

Her breath was coming out in hard sobs and she fought for control, all the while her arm stayed constant against her womb.

She lived to be with him despite his fallacious mood swings and foul tempers.

She worshipped him.

And now, she needed him more than ever.

_It was True Love…._

* * *

Belle and Rumpelstiltskin continued to stand in uncomfortable silence.

He wondered if she was in some sort of shock by the way she stood holding herself and the way her hand clamped across her mouth so tightly.

"Belle?" he asked, his voice heavy with concern, "Are you alright?"

She stifled a sob and slowly opened her watery eyes.

"_Rumpelstiltskin_…."

Her voice quivered and quaked around his name as she dropped her hand atop the other on her stomach.

"What is it Belle?"

His eyes were pained and searching, "What is the matter?"

"_I am with child_."


	18. Chapter 18

_**Dearies what do ya'll think of pregnant Belle?! **_

_**All that lovin had to start something to growing….**_

_**And please don't hit Rumple with your baseball bat because he is not going to be happy! **_

_**I'm enraptured with ya'll's comments keep them coming please I love them!**_

_**Here we go with some new!**_

_**Chapter 18**_

* * *

Belle.

With child.

_His_ child.

The impact of her words hit him harder than any magic of Regina's could ever come close to.

Belle _pregnant_ with his child….

_How did this happen?_

_How could he let this happen?_

His confused eyes shot to her but she was in another world with her small hands pressed protectively against her stomach and her eyes shut tight.

_A baby._

He couldn't pull his eyes away from her hands as they rubbed her flat stomach soothingly.

She had never touched him with such care.

_Because he always pulled away….._

His arms dropped limply to his sides and he mumbled an incoherent, "How could this happen?"

Belle's eyes opened and she shook her head, "_Do not_!" she began, but her words were cut short by her tears and she turned her back to him, pressing herself against the door.

He stood utterly still, not daring to move an inch, just watching Belle weep helplessly into her palms as she slumped to the floor.

_What could he do?_

What had always come naturally to him?

"_Run away Rumple, it's what you're good at."_

Those words echoed in his mind as he crossed to the door.

He did not recognize her in the slightest when he passed.

* * *

Belle was not an ignorant by any means; she knew what happened when a man and a woman lie together.

Heirs were produced.

_Children._

_Offspring._

She knew very well from her beloved Nanny that missing a monthly bleeding after lying with a man heralded pregnancy.

Her Nanny had been a prudent woman who did not shy away from explaining to Belle exactly what would be expected of her when she married.

"Do not be afraid!" her Nanny chided when Belle made a shocked face upon the realization that Gaston, her former betrothed, would be puncturing her in her _private areas_ with his _private_ _areas. _

And also learning from Nanny that, "You will bleed out when he first breaks you, just like a monthly." made all of her romantic thoughts of white doves and roses and lace bridal gowns dissolve into a horrifying bloody mess.

But now Belle was grateful for this lesson and knew surely as soon as she missed her bleeding that Rumplestiltskin had done as Gaston would have done.

The vomiting only served as affirmation to what she already knew.

"A baby…" she whispered as she hugged herself after Rumplestiltskin had left.

"_Baby_…"

Motherhood was a practical fact for Belle and it had been drilled in her mind as a "wifely" duty along with managing a household, keeping charming company, and serving her husband as a devoted wife.

She had never given it much thought to be perfectly honest.

It always seemed so far away, like she had a lifetime to prepare for a baby.

No matter who the father maybe.

And after learning all the in's and out's from her Nanny Belle had been in no hurry to shorten her already lengthy engagement to Sir Gaston.

Now she was in the family way and it made her feel queer.

It was obvious Rumplestiltskin did not want the child, most of the time he couldn't abide to be around her, but the knowledge that another life was growing inside her made Belle feel less than calm.

There were certain things to do when pregnant.

Doctors and midwives were a very important necessity as women were prone to death during childbirth.

Many a young bride had been lost during her delivery in Belle's village and she knew that miscarriages played a factor in some deaths as well.

"A lady has got be overly careful when in the family way." her Nanny stressed.

"Anything from bending over too deeply or lacing your corset too tightly could cause miscarriage and that's quite a painful thing."

Belle shuddered at the memory as she carefully rose and closed the door.

"_Temper fits should be avoided also along with angering your husband, an unhappy father makes an unhappy child…" _

Another pearl of womanly wisdom Belle remembered from her dear Nanny as she picked up her candle and made her way through the salon into her bedchamber.

"Temper fits are as common as breathing in this castle." Belle mused to herself.

She forced her mind not to wander to Rumplestiltskin.

She tried not to upset herself any more than she had already.

The dried residue of her tears served as reminder along with her Nanny's warnings.

_He was not worth it._

"I should be immune to that living breathing disappointment." She thought to herself as she pulled off her silk stockings and plucked the ties of her corset so she could finally pry it off.

"But he still cuts me deeper and deeper each time."

She threw her steel-boned corset across her vanity bench and made her way into her dressing room.

She pulled her light chemise over her head and pulled off her pantalets; she didn't bother with folding them away neatly but instead grabbed a plain yellow nightdress and left her underwear lying lifeless on the floor.

Tonight she left the bedroom candles lit.

It was comforting to her and assuring when she crawled under the covers to know that she wouldn't be lying in total darkness.

_Belle had her fill of darkness._

Her fingers fluttered over her lower abdomen in a comforting gesture, "I do not yet know you little one," she whispered, "but already I pity you."

* * *

In the West Wing, amidst his now destroyed bedchamber, Rumplestiltskin sat on the floor and leaned back against the cold stone wall.

His leather covered legs were stretched out in front of him and his hands hung flatly between his thighs as he stared stupidly into oblivion.

_Nothing._

The debris of what had once upon a time been furniture now littered the entire room.

Wall tapestries hung in mutilated shreds and all four thick posts had been ripped from his bed and thrown through the floor length windows only to crash to the lawn below.

Several large holes gaped back at him where he had punched straight through the stone walls and his broken canopy laid in pieces across the floor where it mingled with broken glass and crumbled rock.

His shattered hands bled out and filled the cracks in the stone like mortar.

But he did not feel it; nor did he bother to magically heal them.

He just sat there in mesmerized and horrified that Belle was now carrying his child.

_His bastard child._

A little demon with scaly skin and golden eyes infected with his curse.

"_How could I have been so careless!?" _his mind screamed at him through shock induced haze.

His mind moaned with hateful things pulled from the darkest depths.

"_Why did you bring her back?!"_

"_Didn't you know that by bedding her she would become pregnant?"_

"_This is all she's ever wanted! She will defeat you!"_

"_She knows her tricks well enough to get with your child!"_

"_You know how to get rid of it, you have the potion!"_

"_Just let her fall…."_

"_A simple trip over your boot will do away with it if you're too cowardly to confront her..."_

Over and over he tried to blame Belle.

He came up with reasons upon reasons to justify that this had to be some sort of revenge she plotted to undo him.

He couldn't fathom Belle pregnant with his child; it just didn't make sense to him.

She was like a goddess to him, an unattainable deity that only let him ravage her out of pity and not love.

She was consummate and virginal, even when he rutted inside of her like a wild animal.

He was constantly struck by the reality that she was not for him when he looked down on her with either of her lovely legs slung over his shoulders and her face a map of pure pleasure.

She was everything and nothing at the same time.

Every time he sullied her she stood it, more than stood it, she tried to love him despite himself and he didn't know if he could stand the_ living_ proof of their love.

She couldn't want a child of his; no woman would.

_Not even when he was an ordinary man._

There were so many times that Milah had turned her back to him in disappointment after he had made pitiful love to her.

He always came too quickly and never quite knew how to pleasure her to complete satisfaction.

He was too shy to try anything with her and even when she did ask him to touch her "there" or attempt to make love during the day he always refused.

He didn't know what he was doing back then.

To be perfectly honest, he couldn't even tell that Milah wasn't a virgin on their wedding night.

And when she became pregnant he was actually glad that he didn't have to climb on top of her and humiliate himself anymore.

But with the dark curse his innocence shattered.

He took many lovers, always maids, and sated his newfound lust.

"_But you had the good sense not to get them into trouble…" _his conscience admonished.

Damn her.

For the first time in decades Rumplestiltskin felt unsure of himself.

He felt idiotic and sloppy.

He was always in control no matter what and now with this undesired _thing _breaking into his life he was totally mind blown.

_A child conceived of him and Belle._

A lamentable tragedy indeed.

* * *

_**My readers and reviewers are awesome for sticking with this story! Thank ya'll sooo much! **_

_**S/O to ya'll who have been here since Chapter 1!**_

_**Buuutttt...its not over yet! :)**_


	19. Chapter 19

_**Love, love, love these comments ya'll!**_

_**Sorry I've been taking sooooo long school and shit has been in the way….for real.**_

_**I saw the Miller's Daughter promo.**_

_**Seeing young Cora with Rumpelstiltskin I'm like -_- **_

_**Deadddd**_

_**But, I watched the Paleyfest 2013!**_

_**It was fucking awesome! I loved when they teased about the upcoming "Racy Lacey" episode with Belle's cursed personality coming out.**_

_**I hope she isn't a whore. **_

_**Although…I do hope she throws the pussy at Gold's stiff ass and blows his mind! (Because that is exactly what I would do) ;)**_

_**Anyways…I'm tryning keep it coming at ya'll!**_

_**Ya'll are brilliant and patient Oncer's!**_

_**Chapter 19**_

* * *

"_**Indefinite business to the South.**_

** R."**

Belle's hand trembled as she read the five meaningless words Rumpelstiltskin had scrawled out in messy black ink on cracked yellow parchment with long curling swoops and spider-like dips.

She couldn't think of anything bad enough to call him.

Except….

"_Coward._"

* * *

"Here he is your majesty." Henry announced as he opened the heavy double doors.

Regina stormed in angrily as usual; dressed in all black riding attire with leather breeches so tight they might have been painted on her long legs ending with knee high boots Rumpelstiltskin immediately recognized as pure Dragon hide.

He grinned lazy and cat-like from her chaise in front of the fireplace.

She looked to Henry and placed her hands on her hips as one perfectly arched raven brow shot up questioningly.

"You interrupted my ride for _this_?"

The words glided from her deep plum lips in an affectionate insult and her hand waved dismissively in his direction.

He slapped the dragon-hide covered area over his heart.

"_You wound me." _

"Nothing would give me more pleasure." She purred as she pulled her riding gloves from her delicate hands, the singular aspect about her one would consider _delicate_, and slapped them along with her leather crop into her father's waiting hands.

Henry did not look at Rumpelstiltskin.

And the Dark One could not help but notice….

"Hello Henry my dear old friend!" the imp smiled warmly, "You haven't changed a bit from the day I first met you! Still emptying your daughter's chamber pot?"

Henry beseechingly looked to Regina.

Rumpelstiltskin had always frightened him.

_Ever since the beginning…._

"Leave us."

She waved him away dismissively but added softly over her shoulder, "_Please_."

A ghost of a smile crept across Henry's whiskered face before he bowed his head and scurried out to leave his daughter alone with the Dark One.

_Just as he had left his wife so many years before…_

"Goodbye Henry!" Rumplestiltskin called to his retreating figure, "We really _must_ catch up some other time old friend!"

Regina rolled her kohl-rimmed eyes and barked out, "What _are_ you doing here?"

Rumplestiltskin toyed with the fringed edges of an afghan draped under him.

"Just paying a friendly call on my old pupil."

He smiled at her sweetly.

"Any harm in that dearie?"

"When have you ever been_, friendly_?" She scoffed as she stalked towards him, trying with every bone in her body to look as menacing he did now lying casually across the divine with a demonic grin painted on his high face.

"Well just look at you trying to be intimidating!"

He pointed to her overly-confident sway as she crawled towards him.

She seemed to melt into the blacks and greys of her room.

He suppressed a laugh but still managed to stammer out, "_Just like your mother!"_

Regina stopped abruptly and frowned.

"What do you want imp?"

He rubbed his chin in bewilderment, "Why does everyone think when I pay a call that it must mean I _want _something?"

"Well, reputation is everything…..dearie."

Regina smirked and took several more steps closer to her former teacher.

"_Ha. Ha_."

"I thought we were done?"

One corner of her perfect mouth curled up in an evil smirk.

"Is that not how you put it the last time we were in each other's company?"

_He needed something from her…_

"Did I say that dearie?" he squeaked skeptically.

_Badly…._

"Don't tell me you've forgotten Rumple?"

Regina leaned against the chaise and smiled down on him, "I thought the Dark One never forgot _anything."_

"Yes well you caught me on an off day dearie, happens to the best of us you know."

"Or the worst…"

"You would know all about that wouldn't you?"

"I only know what you taught me."

She grinned at him then, flashing her prefect white teeth carnivorously.

Regina narrowed her ebony eyes at him uncertainly as she mentally tried to determine what he needed bad enough to actually make him come to her of his own volition.

She was fighting the urge to demand a reason.

But, she also wanted to hear her him ask her.

To know that she had something he _desired…._

No matter how trivial…

Just that fact that he had to come to her with no other choice because he knew he _needed_ her made her shine inside with pride.

_Pride was something that had always been so rare for her…._

"Do you not want to know why I'm here Regina?" he said finally.

Regina's mouth twitched with a smile but she quickly stifled it and forced her usual stony glare to wash back over her face.

"I know your curiosity is about to eat you alive."

His glowing eyes shot up to her expectantly but all he could make out on her face was indifference.

"You've already ruined my ride and now you tell me you have come to ask me for something," her eyes dart to him and then back at the roaring fire, "how can this day get any better?"

"Well you're not at the top of my list either dearie."

"Get on with it Rumple, what do you want?"

He opened his mouth to slap her with offense but closed it when the image of Belle heavy with child flashed through his mind.

_No…._

He cleared his throat and jumped up from the divine, "Do you recall certain….potion you took once upon a time that had _abortive_ properties?"

His hands darted and leapt with life as he pranced lightly around her slumped figure.

"_Please_," she scoffed, "don't tell me_ you_ have gotten someone with child."

"Well dearie as you recall it has been known to happen before…"

Her eyes followed him as he circled her trying to detect any little mannerism or gesture that would herald guilt; but she saw none.

She knew very well that Rumplestiltskin had sired a son back when he was _human_, but of course that was millions of years ago…

"I am dealing with a young lady who is, shall we say, _expecting_ and she does not want whatever is growing inside of her." Rumplestiltskin paused and ran his fingers across the grooves of her ornate mantel piece, "I told her I knew of a potion that could eliminate her pregnancy completely—"

"For a price?" she purred over her shoulder.

He smiled thinly and came to stand behind her, "_You_ of all people can identify with this poor girl's plight Regina."

"I thought we were never to speak of that again." She snapped viciously.

He brushed a loose tendril of shining black hair away from her neck and placed his claw soothingly on her shoulder, "I need your help majesty, you know I _never_ break deals and if I cannot eliminate this poor child's unwanted pregnancy I will be breaking it. Will you not help me?"

_He could be so persuasive…._

_But, it really wasn't him…It had never been him…_

Regina looked up at him through thick, midnight lashes and he couldn't help but catch that old familiar flicker of the impressionable, precious, heart-sick sixteen year old girl that he had ruined once upon a time.

"Are you asking me to procure this potion for you?"

"Well, I'd get it myself but _she_ and I aren't exactly on friendly terms."

He chuckled lightly, "Haven't been for the last two centuries."

"Imagine that." She said sarcastically as she looked down to the gray stone floor.

"You are positive that no one else knows how to make this potion?"

Regina looked again to her former teacher, "Not even _you_?"

"There is some magic so dark; even_ I_ cannot tame it."

"Very well." She sighed, "When do you need it?"

"Today would be lovely."

"I'm sure it would be." she half-laughed as she pushed herself from her post and touched a long hand protectively to her elaborate coif.

"What if she refuses to see me? It's happened before you know."

Rumpestiltskin rolled his eyes and huffed, "Well if I remember her correctly, she has always been a sucker for a gift."

Regina turned with a start and eyed him questioningly.

"Take her something pretty or trade her something!" he threw his hands up in exasperation, "Give whatever you must to get me that potion!"

Regina stared at him stupidly then stormed over to the long red bell pull that hung beside of her bed.

She yanked it and almost immediately Henry came slipping meekly through the doors.

"Ready my carriage."

"Yes, your majesty."

Henry bowed humbly and scurried out, careful not to slam the doors behind him.

"You forgot to mention one thing Rumple."

She placed one finger in the air and smiled crookedly.

"And what's that dearie?"

"What do I get in return for helping you?"

Regina crossed her arms and arched her eyebrow at the imp who thoughtfully rubbed his pointed chin between gray-gold fingers.

'When you stand like that you look exactly like _her_."

Her smug smile fell and her full lips deflated into a thin maroon line.

"What. Do. I. Get?" she hissed, pronouncing each syllable harshly.

"Name your price."

Her eyes simmered like hot tar and her wide grin pulled her lips over her teeth in an almost primal snarl.

"Tell me where Hook is."

Rumplestiltskin smiled amiably at his wicked little protégée.

_The Bitch. _

_How the fuck did she know about Hook…..he couldn't possibly tell her-_

_Belle._

"Never."

"Fine. No deal." She scowled and turned her back on him in one swift motion, but he caught her wrist with his scaled claw.

She looked down at his offending hand in horror but his trusting smile made her muscles relax under his firm grip.

"_Never._"

He repeated the word slowly to Regina with her narrowing eyes and nodded lightly when he saw comprehension reflected back in them.

He hadn't really came out and _told_ her where Hook was exactly…but she caught the jest of what he was saying.

Not like she could even get to Neverland with Jefferson in "hiding" and magic beans an extinct memory.

Realm jumping was now a thing of the past.

_Crocodile…._

Regina pulled her wrist from his grip and rubbed it, "I'll have to burn this blouse now that you've touched it."

"I can't believe that I am actually doing _you _a favor…"

She fidgeted with the idly with the blouse and then looked sourly at him.

"Will there be anything else?" she clipped.

"No, not particularly." He beamed.

"Then why are you still here?"

"Oh, I'm going to stay right here and wait for you."

He walked over to her vanity and sat down gracefully.

"_You don't trust me?"_

Rumplestiltskin picked up a fragile bottle of perfume and sniffed it, "Not with all the tea in China my love."

He hummed in approval and Regina rolled her eyes at his forthrightness.

"Gods!" she huffed as she crossed to him and wrenched the bottle from his claws, "You know it hate it when you talk in riddles."

"You should ready yourself. Henry is walking down the corridor as I breathe."

"_Unfortunately_."

"Tut-tut!"

He wagged an overly-long finger at her in chastisement, "Is that anyway to talk to the one who gave you all of this?"

He opened his arms and gestured at the dank, dark surroundings.

"Yes, you gave me_ so_ much, let me just get down on my knees and worship you."

"As long as you give credit where credit is due my dear…"

"Right."


	20. Chapter 20

_**Dearies!**_

_**Love the feedback for Cha. 19!**_

_**Ya'll are so wonderful and really inspire me with the twists and turns I wana take with my little story!**_

_**Plus ya'll are bright as fuck ;)**_

_**This is a little short, but I'll make it up to ya'll with 21**_

_**Than you all so much and please review!**_

_**Chapter 20**_

* * *

"…_Can people really fall in love so soon_?"

Belle sang to herself as she walked down the hallway en route to the receiving hall for tea with her palm a constant protection against her lower stomach.

_Baby mine…._

Rumplestiltskin had only been gone a day, but his absence tugged at her heartstrings and the previous night she had given in and cried herself to sleep.

_Wouldn't have been the first time…._

The worst pain in the world is to know that the man you love doesn't want a child with you.

It made Belle feel..._inadequate_.

He didn't want_ her_ or their child, that much was plain she gaged by his reaction.

He just wanted to live forever with his power and no one else.

_His fucking power._

It always came down to that.

Belle or power.

But now it wasn't just _Belle _anymore, there was another person coming into the picture whether Rumplesitltksin wanted it or not.

_A beautiful little girl with russet waves like her Papa and brilliant blue eyes like her Mama…._

"You're all mine." Belle whispered to her stomach.

"You are all I have."

* * *

"Did you get it?"

Regina scowled at Rumplestiltskin and pulled from underneath her cape a small vial filled with clear liquid.

"Of course I did." She snarled.

"Well," he huffed as he pranced over and plucked it from her, "it certainly took you long enough."

"Yes, well time is different there with her, it moves agonizingly slow."

"I've already lost a day here thanks to her."

Regina flung her cape over her bed and made quick work of her gloves, "It was all her, naturally she had to regale me with all that has happened to her in the last three centuries."

She crossed over to her vanity and sat down.

"As if I hadn't heard it countless times before…"

While Regina was chattering away about her "visit" with Maleficent, Rumplestiltskin studied the potion as he held it up to the light.

It was odorless and colorless.

_Like water…_

He could slip this into anything and none would be the wiser.

_Belle shouldn't have to be mother to a monster, she already bedded with one._

He could at least spare her this shame.

He would slip this into her tea and that would take care of it.

_A little blood on the sheets..._

It would be gone, washed away from her body and if she wanted, he could even wash it away from her mind.

"I'll never touch her again." He whispered under his breath as he gripped the vial in his claws.

She was too good.

_Too beautiful._

After _it_ was eliminated he would send her away where no one knew her and she could begin life again.

_Without him._

No more pain for Belle, no more humiliation and no more slander.

"_Never again_.."

"I'm sorry what?"

He looked over at Regina, that lump of vanity, and shook his head.

"Nothing dearie, pray continue."

* * *

Perhaps she would have long, golden curls like her Mama had, with a blue silk ribbon hanging down her back…

Maybe she would have big, brown eyes like Rumplestiltskin...

She had caught a glimmer of what his eyes must have been life _before_…

All wide and muddy, deep and bottomless.

Belle could see her daughter now running to her with the bright sun outlining her smiling face and her arms outstretched.

_She would have dimples._

_And her Papa's heart…._

* * *

Rumplestiltskin had been back for over an hour now.

He just sat staring at the dead embers of a fire long grown cold and dead.

The vial felt heavier and heavier in his hand.

"_I am with child..."_

Belle's words kept swimming around in his head as he rolled the vial between his palms contemplating the reality of the situation he had gotten himself into.

"_Belle._" He croaked as he placed his head in his hands and looked down at the floor.

_This is wrong…this is murder…_

"_Papa!_"

In his mind Rumplestiltskin saw a little chestnut haired girl with humongous blue eyes running toward him with a perfect smile.

She was beautiful.

_Little Belle…._

_He couldn't kill little Belle…._

But what if she came out with shimmering scales and haunted golden eyes?

No ocean blue orbs full of love…just blackness tainted by_ his_ curse?

"_Papa!_"

His perfect little girl, his own little Belle to pet and spoil as he wished.

His sweetheart.

_The Dark Princess._

"Rumplestiltskin what is that in your hand?"


	21. Chapter 21

_**My dear, dear readers!**_

_**The feedback so far with the potion is crazy! Keep it coming!**_

_**Thank you all so much for the kindness.**_

_**Chapter 21**_

* * *

Hearing Belle's voice from across the room made his stomach slam into his spine.

He quickly stuffed the vial inside of his dragon hide coat hoping he was now safely under the cover of twilight.

"Whatever are you talking about dearie?" he barked out in a nervous voice that most certainly did not belong to him.

Belle cocked her head to one side, "You had something in your hand surely."

He could hear the dis-trust in her voice.

"There was nothing in my hand Belle, is your 'condition' making you delirious or something?"

He barked at her like she could have been nothing more than a Miller's Daughter.

_I'm sorry…_

_He couldn't help it._

He could feel her still standing there, even though she didn't make a sound.

He could feel the heat from her body and the vibration of her heart beat.

But underneath it all, he could hear another heartbeat.

Small and faint, but it was there all the same.

"_Papa!"_

"Have you _nothing_ to say Belle? Your silence does irritate me beyond reason."

"Sometimes," she said low, "silence is the smartest remark."

"How right you are!" he sang.

Belle's hand drifted automatically to her womb.

"You should try to take your own advice to heart dearie."

Belle scoffed and shifted to lean against the doorframe, "What do you want of me? When I am silent I irritate you and when I speak-"

She stopped mid-sentence, quietly closed the door and walked back up to her rooms.

But she wasn't alone.

She shan't be alone ever again.

* * *

As he stared down at the vial of potion that would kill their child Rumplestiltskin remembered the first time he saw her.

She was _so_ beautiful.

But it wasn't just her beauty; he had beheld women considered far more beautiful than she many times before, but her presence.

It was arresting.

She was like a magnet pulling him toward her, he _had _to have her.

The way those incredible eyes darted around assessing everyone and everything with such shielded scrutiny made him almost giggle.

She was well-bred, he could tell, and by the way she clutched that book, also well educated.

She was a small girl, but at the same time she wasn't.

She was great and regal.

The way she held her chin made him smile.

_No one would ever get the better of her…._

She was a welcome part of the War Room and probably knew every soldier by name and rank.

Yet she was a lady in the same turn.

Dressed so fashionably in gold, it was almost like an omen.

Her skin was like a pail of fresh cream and he would wager his dagger that it had never gone out under the harsh sun without protection of a bonnet, gloves, and parasol.

He could also see it coated up to the elbows in some poor soldier-boy's blood or clad in oven-mittens lifting bread from the Castle oven.

She was _good._

_It's been centuries since he had seen anyone truly good…._

Between that gleaming hair and ivory skin, Rumplestiltskin was at a loss.

"_My price is her."_

* * *

Sleep did not come easily to Belle that night; truth be told it hadn't come easily since she was sure of her _condition_.

When she wasn't retching into her chamber pot, her thoughts were always of Rumplestiltskin.

Of how she hated him yet loved him in the same breath….

She yearned for him day and night, but her damnable pride kept her from him.

_As his did her…_

She carrying his child inside of her body, she could feel it grow every day and soon his child would be here.

_Would he ignore her with their daughter in her arms?_

_Would she ignore him?_

She lay there, staring up at the lace canopy as she rubbed little circles against her stomach.

She hadn't bothered to draw the heavy drapes, so the room was illuminated only by blue moonlight.

The floor-length windows looked like large checker boards drawn out across the wood floor and her bedclothes glowed in the darkness.

Her thoughts were only of longing, the longing for Rumplestiltskin's voice, his touch, the way his eyes clouded with unspeakable love, it made her eyes glossy with tears because of how much she _longed_ for him.

She twirled a curl idly as she lay on her back mentally wishing for her True Love.

He treated her abhorrently at times yes, but didn't they both cut each other to shreds?

The way they slashed and tore at one another was loathsome, yet it was their way.

_They were damaged…_

Belle wasn't the innocent Princess covered in her bravery; she was lying in a cold bed pregnant with the bastard child of the most fearsome being in the realms.

Her snow white gown had long been stained with his darkness.

_But I love him…._

"Rumplestiltskin…"

* * *

"I can be happy with her." He whispered to the vial in his horrid hands.

"She can be enough."

_To become a father again…._

Maybe he wasn't all black and evil.

Perhaps he _had_ suffered enough.

Now he could have what he always wanted, _Belle_.

"She is everything good and right." He said as his eyes took on a faraway look.

"Our future can be bright."

* * *

_Before his eyes he felt summer sunlight and saw ocean blue skies littered with fat white clouds. _

_His body was warm and not far in front of him was Belle, brilliant and lovely as she carried their daughter on her hip._

_Her auburn hair was loose save for a yellow silk ribbon tied into a bow at her crown._

_Her feet, like their daughters, were bare and pink as they sank into the plush grass._

_A light breeze blew against Belle and her gown molded against her body, framing her maternal curves like he had only before seen in marble statues. _

_Sienna waves plastered against her blushing cheek and even from a distance he could see how blue her eyes were._

_She was Demeter cradling Persephone, and he was nothing more than a mere mortal in awe of their beauty._

_She smiled at him, locking eyes, and kissed their child's temple lovingly before placing her on the soft green grass and pointed to Rumplestiltskin._

"_Go to Papa!" Belle said as she gave their child a reassuring push forward._

_Little Belle._

_She ran wobbly and unsteadily as she tried to hold up the hem of her white dress and hold onto the little bouquet of wildflowers her Mother had picked for her. _

_The pale pink sash tied around her middle flew behind her like her own personal kite and Rumplestiltskin felt the smile pull across his face as his arms opened wide to receive the angelic bundle that was galloping towards him._

_She had his hair, brown curls that only touched her earlobes and bounced with each step._

_But the rest of her was Belle._

"_Papa!" she called with those bright blue eyes growing wider and wider as she got closer to him._

_Her skin was nearly the same color as her gown and she had the same blooming blush on her cheeks as her Mother._

_Belle came running when her daughter tripped on the gown and tumbled forward onto the lush carpet underneath her baby feet._

_Rumplestiltskin came running too._

"_Papaaa!" she sobbed as Belle pulled her, all grass stains and hurt feelings, into her lap and kissed her chocolate mop soothingly._

_Belle smiled up at him and winked one icy eye but continued to coddle their little girl._

_He loomed over them protectively, his shadow covering them in dark shade._

"_Papa!" his child wailed as her pudgy arms reached up for him from Belle's bosom._

"_Papa?" Belle beamed._

_He never loved her more than he did now bathed in midday sun, her chestnut mane glimmering, their baby steadfast against her breast as he gazed into her almost colorless blue eyes._

_His gaze shifted to their little girl and he couldn't help but to smile broadly at her._

_He scooped her up into his arms and she immediately snuggled against his waistcoat, clinging to the ruffles on his blouse. _

_Her little cheek rested against his golden chest and he pressed his nose to her curls._

_She smelled pure._

_How could something from him be so pure?_

_Belle rose and placed her hand lovingly on his forearm, "Papa."_

_Rumplestiltskin smiled and nuzzled against his child's nest of beautiful hair._

_Little Belle._


	22. Chapter 22

_**Wasn't the vision sweet?**_

_**Awww.**_

_**Thank you to all ya'll who followed me, reviewed me, and favorite me and my story!**_

_**!SPOILER ALERT FROM HERE ON!**_

_**It kinda shocked me in 2x16 that Rumplestiltskin wasn't the manipulator!**_

_**Cora fucked him over!**_

_**Whaat?!**_

_**I was sure that he was gonna teach her magic and they were gonna become lovers and she was gonna catch "feelings" and he kicks her out, thus making her so dark and evil and fab.**_

_**Buutttt…he falls in love and she just rips the rug out from under him!**_

_**I liked it.**_

_**However, I did not like the deathbed scene with him and Cora all like, "Did you ever love me?" and all emotional -reunited- at- last- type shit.**_

_**Get out of here you were just on the phone with your True Love what are you doing -_-**_

_**It was obvious she did not love you, the freaking kiss did not work and ya'll kissed like a million times.**_

_**Come on now.**_

_**I did love the way he got up from the cot, healed totally, and had this look of just no remorse what-so-ever. Straight stale-faced like "Bitch I win."**_

_**Loved it!**_

_**And Gold was talking about, "the poison racing towards my heart." **_

_**No that shit was slooowww as hell. **_

_**?**_

_**I also loved it when Cora smacked the "enchanted box" off the desk.**_

_**That reminded me of some shit my mother would do. **_

_**Anyway, my rant is over. Lol :D**_

_**(P.S. sooo glad Regina isn't Rumple's child I would have stopped watching if that happened.)**_

* * *

Belle looked so peaceful in her sleep.

She was his happily ever after.

One cracked nail traced her jawline slowly as he tried to commit every detail and plane of her face to his memory.

She must have been warm; her sheets were balled up at the foot of her bed and she wore no slippers.

He smiled when he saw the nightgown she wore, ripped at the knees from that night in his alchemy.

_A fond memory for her too?_

One graceful hand lay against her flat stomach protectively.

_Beautiful little Belle…_

He had long shed his dragon coat and vest, now standing over her in only his leather breeches and red silk blouse.

From a stranger's point of view their scene appeared Mythological.

The midnight sacrifice of a maiden to a monster; the rape of a virgin by an evil deity.

But this was a Fairytale.

_This was True Love._

He studied the way her eyelashes rested against her perfect cheek bones, her delicate brows arched over those watery orbs, the way her porcelain skin shined in the moonlight, and how it was topped off with that wild hair fanning out around her like a halo.

She was all for him.

He eased himself onto the edge of her down mattress, careful not to disturb her, folded his hands in his lap and just _watched._

He could make out the lines of her ribs through the silk; he could see the change in her breasts also.

They were fuller now, not by much, but he could tell.

He longed to burrow against them and wrap his arms around her like a child.

Belle shifted onto her side, facing him, and sighed drowsily.

It was the most erotic sound Rumplestiltskin had ever heard.

One plump arm still guarded her womb as the other one rested underneath her neck.

_How he longed to kiss her…_

"Rumplestilskin…" she mumbled, "Rumplestiltskin."

He cupped her cheek, "I'm here love."

She nuzzled into his withered palm and exhaled.

He rubbed her cheek with his thumb and shifted closer when he saw her eyelids flutter open.

They were deep cerulean as they scanned him up and down, narrowing with confusion when his hands left her face to tangle in her curls.

"Am I ever going to be enough?" she whispered as her white hand traveled up the wide neckline of his blouse.

"Oh my darling Belle," he said in a voice thick with gravel, "you are so much more than enough."

He melted into her touch as she trailed her fingers across his chest.

"This is a dream; this is nothing more than a dream. Tomorrow I'll wake up and you'll be gone and, and-" she stopped short as her voice began to quake and tremble.

Rumplestiltskin pulled her to him as he moved to lie flat beside of her on the bed, "It isn't a dream Belle."

"It is! Tomorrow you shall hate me again!"

Realization slammed into Rumplestiltskin like a bolt of magic.

"I never hated you!" he fiercely whispered into her hair.

"It was this _darkness_, this, this _monster_ inside of me that rips and tears at my happiness! I love you Belle!"

He tilted her chin up so he could look her in the eyes, "I worship you."

"It is always the same Rumplestiltskin." She hissed.

"You always do this to me! You throw me back and forth between light and dark, love and hate! You're ripping me in two."

"My darling..." he cooed as her tears wet his chest, "What have I been doing to you?"

Belle pulled away from him and clumsily wiped her eyes, "You have wasted me."

Her voice was tired and hollow.

"I love you." He pleaded as his arms wound about her waist.

"Artifice."

The word dripped with contradiction.

Yet she did not struggle against his caresses.

She did not pull away when he made her gown disappear in a puff of garnet smoke.

When his lips met her collarbone she hummed approvingly and when his palms cupped her newly swollen breasts she yelped at the new sensations prickling her body.

"The promises you make in the darkness never last until dawn." Belle whimpered when he shifted atop her and nestled between her thighs.

She felt his strained hardness against her centre and it made her shudder with longing.

His smell, spicy and strong, filled her nose.

She closed her eyes and basked in the weight of him upon her, worshipping her body with his.

"Trust me Belle." He pleaded between nips against her smooth throat.

He trailed his sweet kisses down her throat and over her collarbone only to halt when he came to her satiny breasts.

"I have always trusted you," she whispered breathlessly as she watched him carefully caress the velvety underside of her left breast, "and look where it has put me."

He made no counter remark to her, choosing instead to trace the valley between her breasts with is tongue thus issuing a strangled moan from the Princess underneath him.

His jagged nails skimmed down her ribs, leaving only faint red lines behind.

_He was marking her…._

"Stop me Belle." He groaned against the cushion of her breast, "Don't let me spoil you again."

He grasped at her hips impatiently and rubbed his hardened length against her thigh.

Her fingers wound in his curls and scraped against his scalp wantonly.

"I'll never stop you Rumplestiltskin; make me as dark as you are."

He moaned deeply and quickly placed his eager mouth around one of her pert nipples, sucking ever so lightly as his tongue flicked the hardened bud.

Belle arched into his mouth and removed one of her hands from his hair to clutch at his leather fastenings.

Never stopping his ministrations, Rumplestiltskin lightly pushed her hand out of the way and pulled himself free.

Her legs were now cradling his hips and she could feel the pressure of him against her entrance.

He released her breast with a "pop" and looked up at her, "Do you love me?"

Belle rubbed his gilded forehead creased with centuries of worry and anger.

"Do you love me?"

He plunged himself inside of her sweltering heat with one deep thrust and never breaking her gaze he answered with an assured, "Yes."


	23. Chapter 23

_**I'm glad ya'll could stomach my rant.**_

_**:D**_

_**102 followers!**_

_**61 faves!**_

_**Ahhhh! Thanks soo much!**_

_**Chapter 23**_

* * *

"Did you see me loving you before you came to my father's castle?"

Belle was draped across Rumpelstiltskin's chest as he leisurely combed his long, spindly fingers through her waves.

She knew he could prophesize, but as he had told her many times before, the future did not always come out as envisioned.

"I saw that you would be my price."

He twirled a curl slowly around the tip of his finger and let it fall back into Belle's auburn mane.

"Why me?"

"My price is always-"

"-something precious."

"Precisely."

"I was precious to my father and my people."

"Beloved by all who knew you, that is what I saw in my visions."

He traced the length of her backbone slowly with his finger, tickling her lightly as he went.

"He was beyond cruel to me, you know."

Belle said matter-of-factly as she rested her chin on top of her hands that were now daintily folded atop Rumpelstiltskin's sternum.

"He allowed them to spit and throw their waste at me while he just sat on his throne and _watched._"

As she spoke Rumpelstiltskin imagined pulling King Maurice's entrails from his stomach and draping gaily them from the rafters like garlands for a ball…

"He told me I wasn't worth feeding to his hounds."

He pictured ripping each tooth from his gums with his claws and letting King Maurice see them coated in his own blood and bits of flesh….

"He did save me though." she mused as she turned onto her back.

"The group of soldiers that presented me to my father, some of the very same _I_ saved from certain death, were going to rape me and my father asked them if they truly wanted to come behind the Dark One."

She placed her lover's arm across her bare breasts and continued.

"'She is _his_ whore,' my father affirmed, 'this strumpet who was once a beloved Princess and most treasured daughter. She has rutted with that fiend, stains of their lustful pleasure are plain upon her skirts. I can see it in her eyes that she has now become a Monster's whore. Do you honorable young men truly wish to taint your virtue with this most foul lump of harlotry?!'"

Belle's voice held neither sorrow nor sadness; it was hard and callused with resentment.

"They turned me loose then, those _virtuous_ young soldiers; but not after beating me with their fists and kicking me with their heavy boots."

Her deep sapphire eyes drifted up to the canopy, "I felt almost thankful when one spoke up and said, 'No! Not in the face! T'would be a lamentable tragedy to maim such beauty!'"

She laughed huskily and looked to her Monster.

"_Such beauty!_"

"I'll have to kill them all now you must surely know that." he hissed through gritted teeth.

"Why do you think I told you?"

She moved to straddle his hips and cupped his sharp face in her white hands, "I have lost my goodness Rumpelstiltskin, just as I have lost my faith in people. I am _very_ changed. When my own father spat in my face every brave fiber in my soul burned and turned to ash. My eyes no longer sparkle with innocence and good intentions, my mind is no longer pure, the ability to see the good inside people has blown away like dust in the wind, and as for the good inside of _me_ no one but you and our child shall ever see it again."

His claws rested on her naked hips, drawing soothing circles with his cracked nails.

She was _broken_.

She had given up herself for those backward peasants and they all but crucified her for it.

They would all pay.

_Especially her father…._

Rumpelstiltskin would plan his death step by tortuous step.

_Tick-Tock dearie tick-tock…._

He would beg for mercy as his daughter had.

_And his pleas would fall on deaf ears..._

"My darling Belle," he said as his hands moved to hug her waist, "I will never let anyone hurt you again."

She smiled sadly and laid her head against his shoulder.

"How can you say that when you are the main one who has hurt me?"

* * *

They made love until the bright morning sun began to peek over the snow topped mountains.

"Do you want me to be the mother of your child?" she asked as he held her tight to his chest.

"I want my happily ever after and that is you and our child."

"It's going to be a girl." She corrected as she ran her nails through his chest hair.

"I know."

"You've seen her?"

Rumpelstiltskin smiled and pressed a light kiss between her eyes, "Yes and she looks like you, a little Belle."

Belle's musical laugh filled the air between them.

It was the first time he had heard her genuinely amused in a very long time…

"Whatever shall we call her?"

He thought for a moment and then grinned, "_Little Belle_."

"We can't name her after me." She giggled.

"She will be like you in every way, I have seen it."

"Like I used to be you mean."

The mirth in her voice was suddenly gone; replaced now with a raw desolation.

"No," he said sternly, "like you are. She will see the good in everyone, she will be brave and kind, she _will_ be like you Belle."

"The bastard daughter of a Monster's whore?" she barked as she pulled her body from his grasp and rolled to the edge of the bed.

Her pale back curved down to meet her hips perfectly.

Every inch of her was covered in porcelain.

As if she had been dipped in whitewash.

_Rumpelstiltskin had never saw skin that white…that flawless…_

It nearly made him forget how to breathe.

Her thick, wavy locks reached almost to the middle of her back and when she turned to face him, her curls obscured her breasts slightly from his view.

"You mustn't say such things." He chastised as he flung the bedclothes back from his own nude body and got out of the state bed.

"And who are you to say I mustn't? We aren't wed thus our child be deemed bastard, that is the way Rumpelstiltskin. I know what I have become."

His body glittered and shone in the sunlight, highlighted beautifully when he stepped in front of the wide, floor-length window.

Belle groped angrily through the tangled bedclothes for her dressing gown.

"What are you doing?" he sighed.

"Looking for my," she pulled her wrinkled gown from the wad of pale blankets and blindly white sheets, "_gown_."

He pushed his matted curls away from his forehead and watched her as she slipped on the thin white robe trimmed in pale yellow ribbon.

"Rumpelstiltskin?" She said timidly, "Are we truly going to live happily ever after? Can we have our happy ending? _Finally?"_

Her voice shivered with emotion as she struggled to tie her gown closed.

He crossed to her and enveloped her in his arms just as he had when she kissed him for the second time.

She placed her ear to his heart as she clung to him.

"It's all I want." She said.

"It's all I've wanted since I landed in your arms that spring day."

"We_ will_ have our happy ending Belle, it is time for me, for us. Whatever hateful fate destiny has in store for me I refuse it, here and now. I will fight it with all my soul."

His hands snaked between them and rested on her lower stomach.

"_Happily. Ever. After_."


	24. Chapter 24

_**Hello Dearies!**_

_**How did everyone like 2x17?**_

_**Personally, I thought it was kinda boring but don't ya'll find every episode without Rumbelle lacking? **_

_**Chapter 24**_

* * *

He became overly protective of Belle now that she was carrying his child.

He had so many enemies.

_After all, he was a difficult man to love…._

He wanted to keep her close to him, so he began sleeping with her at night.

He hadn't slept in centuries, but he longed to be near her.

Sometimes he didn't sleep, he just _watched_ her.

He watched the way her bosom rose and fell with each breath, the way her silky nightgown molded around her blossoming figure.

He loved to bury his nose in her hair and just breathe her in.

He kept one of her handkerchiefs hidden on the inside of his waistcoat at all times so he would never lose that scent.

He hoped their daughter would smell like that.

After he had thrown her out, he often would times find himself wandering into her abandoned chambers to file through her gowns, holding them to his nose just to get a faint trace of what it had once felt like to be with her.

It was too early to feel the baby in her womb, but he knew she was there.

Yet, Rumplestiltskin dreaded the delivery.

He searched through his massive collection of spell books and potions for anything that could dull pain or either eliminates it completely, but found nothing quite sufficient enough for Belle.

She had borne enough pain and this was something he wanted to save her from.

_It was his fault…_

He hadn't been there when Milah delivered, but she had told him of how excruciating the pain had been, so awful in fact, the midwife had given her a leather strap to bite on when the labor pains came.

She had described it as, "being ripped in two," and Rumplestiltskin did not want Belle to feel that horrible pain.

He knew women could also die from childbirth; it wasn't uncommon to bleed to death after birth.

That worried him very much.

The very thought of being_ without_ Belle grieved him terribly.

_He would not lose her now that he had finally found her…._

He hated himself for being so cruel to her.

He had even contemplated giving his dagger unto her keeping in hopes of compensating for his coarseness.

_Anything for her….anything for Belle…._

Nowadays his thoughts were always of Belle, just as they had been in the beginning but now with more ferocity.

His only focus was protecting his happily ever after, not deal making.

When his thoughts were not of Belle, which was rare, he always came back to benevolent King Maurice and the _good _people of his Kingdom.

_Whom Belle saved…_

Revenge polluted his blood turning it hot and thick under his impenetrable hide; he grew his nails and filed them down into sharp points ready for tearing away at Maurice's fat neck.

At night, as he held Belle's sleeping body, he planned the siege painstakingly in his mind.

_He would save Maurice for last…._

He thought of the group of soldiers who beat Belle and the peasants who mocked her.

He _burned_ for vengeance.

She wasn't a _whore_; she was their sacrifice to the ugly, evil Beast.

And she cowed him.

She was an amazing woman who never ceased to amaze him.

* * *

"When did you realize that you loved me?"

Belle lay with her back against his chest as he nuzzled into her freshly washed hair.

_Always…_

"When you tripped over that scrap of golden ball gown and nearly killed yourself in an attempt to scrub the staircase to a mirror shine."

He ran his sharp nails up her arm, careful not to knick the petal soft skin.

"I'd never been so..._terrified_ for someone's life other than my own until that day."

"You made me wear that dress until I was sure it would rot right off of my body." She giggled.

"I was testing you." He whispered into her hair.

"I wanted to see if you were really as selfless, brave, and true as you seemed."

His hand cupped her neck and a planted a chaste kiss to her right cheek.

_She smelled like roses…._

"Well was I?" she said breathlessly as he caressed her neck.

"You were consummate in your crusade against vanity," he nibbled lightly at her ear and continued, "You never once complained, not even when the combination of that gown and slippery marble stairs caused you a broken ankle."

Belle pushed herself against him, molding her backside into his hips.

"I never knew you cared."

"Why do you think you have a dressing room full of gowns my dear?"

Rumplestiltskin moved from her ear to the exposed column of her neck and sucked at the creamy skin offered to him.

Belle's eyelids fluttered with pleasure as he worshipped her neck, leaving several bright red marks that would turn to bruises by the morning.

"I tried so hard to keep my emotions veiled; I was neither here nor there with you and when you were hurt I tried to keep my concern vague, but within I was _raging_."

"You healed me magically..."

Her words drifted into silence as he turned her carefully to face him and shifted atop her.

"Can it be enough without the kiss?" he asked.

Belle smiled sadly and ran her fingers through his curls, "Do you think it can?"

"I think it shall always be there between us like a great divide, but one day Belle, I will kiss you. I will let you drain the evil from my soul and wipe the darkness from my heart."

He stroked her thighs entreatingly with his nails, "But I need my power for just a while longer."

"What is your obsession with power?" she moaned as he kissed his way down her throat to her bosom.

"One day," he whispered against her silk covered breast, "I will tell you."

He slipped the two fragile lace straps from her perfectly rounded shoulders and stroked the side of her face.

"I will tell you _everything_."


	25. Chapter 25

_**Sorry I took soooo long!**_

_**Urgh!**_

_**I'm so grateful for all the reviews!**_

_**I love reading them, seriously.**_

_**I enjoy hearing what ya'll think of a chapter or my writing and I like the ideas ya'll throw out there for me.**_

_**Keep them coming!**_

_**Chapter 25**_

* * *

"Why do you spin so much?"

Belle smiled at him from the doorway, barefooted and spritely with a pale blue ribbon tied in her copper waves.

Rumplestiltskin stilled the wheel and gave her a wry grin.

"I thought we already had this conversation dearie."

"Yes we did," she started to cross the room, "but you never gave me a definite answer."

Her dress was the same color as the ribbon in her hair and the Dark One couldn't help but to reach out and grab the hem, rubbing the light fabric between his fingers.

"You always looked beautiful in blue."

Belle only smiled softly as she settled down onto his lap, winding her pale arms around his neck as she scraped her nails lightly against his nape.

The thread he had previously been spinning now lay forgotten on the floor between his feet.

"Why couldn't we have had this before? Why were we so afraid of each other?"

She nuzzled into his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"I wish I knew."

He sighed deeply and let his eyes close, "I wish I knew how bad I was hurting you."

Belle pulled her head from his shoulder and looked him directly in the eyes.

"_Liar._"

The word rolled off her pretty pink tongue in one graceful sound and Rumplestiltskin blinked several times, confused by her remark.

"_Liar_." She said again with the same truth.

He cocked his head, "Whatever do you mean?"

Her fingers fisted in his wild hair and she pulled his face closer to hers, "You are a liar Rumplestiltskin."

She shifted easily in his lap to straddle him, letting the soles of her feet rest flatly on the cool stone floor beneath them.

Her skirts bunched around her hips and he couldn't help but let his hands come to rest on her bared thighs.

"Pray do tell?" he almost moaned as he felt _Belle_ pressing against his crotch.

"You knew _exactly_ what you were doing to me you," Belle rocked back and forth against his groin, "…_evil imp_."

His hands took on a life of their own and roamed up her legs; deftly diving underneath her multiple layers of lace-trimmed petticoats.

"Every insult, every curse, and every temper fit was all _you_."

Her warm breath hissed into his ear and he couldn't help but flinch.

"I'm so sorry Belle." He moaned as his nails scraped the inside walls of her thighs.

Belle arched up onto her toes and sucked in a sharp breath, "Your apologies are empty and-"

Rumplestiltskin silenced her totally when one long finger met the silky wetness of her bare heat.

"_And?_" he sang as he looked at her knowing full well his entire finger had been swallowed by her immeasurable tightness.

Belle bit her bottom lip and threw her head back seductively.

One willowy arm dripping in ruby silk came to wrap tightly around her un-corseted waist as he played her.

"You know every move Rumplestiltskin. You are conniving and, and-"

She slumped onto his shoulder and began laving his neck with nips and kisses.

Her hands pushed back his blouse and she clawed at his thick golden skin.

She had him just about purring.

"You're so deceitful you wouldn't ask for water if you were dying of thirst."

Rumplestiltskin chuckled low because he knew just how true she was….

"What am I dearie?"

He pumped his finger quicker and quicker into her, "_Tell me what I am_."

She began to ride his hand as another finger joined the first inside of her and Belle felt herself close to the precipice.

His eyes were wide and shining; his jaw had gone slack as he watched her, as he pleasured her with only his fingers.

"_What am I Belle?!"_

It was an order, not a plea.

"_Monster!"_

* * *

"What are we going to do when it starts?"

Belle stood in the doorway of her small salon wearing an almost invisible white gauze nightgown.

"I have some spells that deal implicitly with pain." He said matter-of-factly as his eyes followed her blooming body up and down.

"How will I know when it's time?"

"Trust me dearie, you'll know."

He smiled and pushed himself up from the little sofa and met her in the doorway.

"I'll know?"

Her eyes were full of question and fear.

"Yes, you'll know."

Rumplestiltskin pressed his palm flat against her lower abdomen and rubbed it soothingly as he leaned down close to her ear.

"You're not wearing any pantalets my dear?"

Belle blushed and looked up at him innocently, "No."

It came out in a girlish squeak and he could not help but to let his hand drop lower to tease her where she loved it the most.

"Filthy girl." He chided as he felt her through the all-too-sheer gauze.

She pulled him to her and fisted the silk of his blouse, "Do you love me?"

He hoisted her wordlessly up into his arms, letting her legs nestle in the crook of his elbow and his other arm encircled her torso.

He stepped in the direction of the bed and Belle's eyes darted from him to the bed and back to him.

"May I show you?" he all but whispered, "Please?"

Belle nodded meekly and pressed her cheek to his chest.

He carried her over to the bed and laid her down softly on the pale duvet.

He knelt beside of her on the floor, mimicking the way he used to kneel in church years and years ago.

"I'm your slave Belle."

He caressed her thighs and hips lovingly, carefully moving up her ribcage to cup her breast in his gnarled hand.

He placed his mouth against her pert nipple and blew lightly on it through the gauze and sucked her nipple into his watering mouth.

Between nips and kisses he managed to choke out, "I am your servant, your supplicant, the most unworthy of worshippers-"

She cut off his confession when she cried and arched into his mouth.

He felt like he was receiving communion for the very first time.

She was holy and pure.

She was _Belle_.


	26. Chapter 26

_**Hello Dearies!**_

_**I've missed you all but final exams are next week so I've been on like a thousand.**_

_**But what did ya'll think of Racy Lacey?**_

_**!No spoilers here so don't leave comments about a fucking spoiler!**_

_**I hope this chapter is worthy of you all!**_

_**Review and enjoy this shit!**_

_**:) :) :)**_

_**Chapter 26**_

* * *

Belle's stomach had just begun to curve slightly with maternity when they decided on a name.

And his visions had become centered on their daughter more and more.

"I hope she will be like you." Belle whispered sleepily in his ear as she lay in his arms amidst a sea of tangled bedclothes.

He glanced down at her sadly, "Whatever did I do to deserve this?"

He trailed one finger down her face and tilted her chin up to him.

"What did I do to deserve you?" she smiled.

Rumplestiltskin cradled her to his chest and placed a lingering kiss between her eyes.

He could not express the love he felt in that moment.

Not since Baelfire had he felt so complete.

_Soon he would be called Papa again…._

"Belle?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

Belle looked up at him with wide cerulean eyes lined with thick lashes, "For what?"

Rumplestiltskin smiled, "Everything."

* * *

Belle glowed, she actually _glowed_.

She beamed like brightest star in the heavens.

He hated to leave her, but business was calling from Regina's direction and Rumplestiltskin had invested too much time and effort in her to turn back now.

_All for the boy…..and Belle._

He watched her as she flipped thick, yellowed pages scrawled with graceful gothic lettering.

She smiled as she read and Rumplestiltskin wondered what amused her so.

"Reading a farce, dearie?" he cackled.

Slowly her blue eyes rose from the page to meet his and she grinned, "Yes it is, it's quite humorous."

_Remember her like this….always…_

Her ruby lips stretched across her straight white teeth and the apples of her cheeks had begun to bloom as she held up the page and waved him over.

_He obeyed._

_He was domesticated. _

He brushed her curls aside and leaned over her shoulder, resting his chin beside of her ear.

"Read this." She giggled and pointed to several lines.

He had already read this novel hundreds of times, but Belle's enthusiasm made him see the lines afresh and he laughed along with her whole-heartedly.

_Tell her._

"Belle." He said, his voice taking a lower volume than normal, "I have to go away for a few days to deal."

"Oh?" she said.

"Yes it's very serious and imperative that I answer, yet I do not want to leave you."

"Then take me with you."

She turned her head and faced him, "I shall be fine."

"Belle dearest, I don't think that would be a good idea."

He placed his gnarled hands on her milky shoulders in a comforting gesture.

"Why ever not? There is nothing you cannot tell me or show me, I am as good as your wife now Rumplestiltskin."

She gripped his hand and smiled reassuringly, "Keep nothing from me, no matter how dark or dangerous."

He sighed and closed his eyes.

"My dealings are not safe for you, especially now that you're-"

"Pregnant?"

"Exactly, I would never forgive myself if harm befell you or our child."

"But I cannot bear to be away from you."

She looked heartbroken.

"Darling it won't be for long, a few days at the least a few weeks at the most and I shall cast the protection spell."

"What about the mirror?"

Her eyes took on a mischievous gleam.

"We can see one another through the mirror, can't we?"

_The Magic Mirror…._

"Yes communication is what that mirror was intended for."

"Well take it with you and we can see one another every day since you insist on not taking me."

It had been so many centuries since he had used the magic mirror, he wondered idly if it still worked.

It would be safe from Regina's prying eyes if he called on Belle, she could never call upon him.

That would be too risky.

"Would that satisfy you then?"

Belle dipped her head and smiled, "Yes it would."

"Very well," he waved his hand and the mirror appeared, "as you wish."

It was beautiful and small, a hand mirror actually, and it was pure silver with vines of blooming roses etched into the back and handle.

"It shall never leave me."

He tucked it securely into the inside of his doublet and rose from Belle's side.

"Do not look into the mirror in the grand hall until you hear me call you, understand? It can be very dangerous for you, do not under any circumstances pull the tapestry from the mirror unless you hear me say your name."

She placed her hand in his and stood from her chair, "Yes my dark lord."

She giggled and rolled her bright eyes.

"Fine dearie, now before I go," he rumbled as he pulled her to him and wrapped his arms protectively around her waist, "I would love to ravish you on this table."

Belle carded her hands lovingly through his wild hair, "That makes two of us."

* * *

"Hello Rumple."

Regina practically purred from the little divine in front of the roaring fire.

He clapped his hands together gleefully and bared his rotten teeth, "Ahh Regina! How sweet you look today!"

He eyed her figure clothed totally in black leather.

Her skin tight breeches, her tightly cinched waist with the whorishly low neckline, and the eight feet of ebony hair piled atop her head with the streak of blood red running through it.

Of course the pounds and pounds of cosmetics caked on her face to give the natural beauty and hard coldness.

_Where did the long midnight braid go and the bright shining eyes?_

_The shy manners and soft voice?_

"Like a virginal bride! So demure and pure!"

Regina scoffed and patted her hair, "You're always so full of compliments aren't you?"

"Well you know me!"

He danced across the room, "I use flattery as my main tool."

"Hmph." She grunted, "Your flattery is as stale as your humor."

The smiled dropped from his face and he folded his arms behind his back confidently.

"Your mother liked it."

Her eyes shot to him and they were filled with pure hate.

Even that vein between her eyes had started to throb angrily.

"_Don't you dare you little_-"

"Uh-uh!" he reprimanded, wagging a finger disapprovingly.

"Do you need my help or not dearie?"

Her fiery eyes dropped to his feet.

"That's what I thought."

He grinned smugly and sat down on the end of her sofa.

"Well!" he sighed, "What's the problem today my little evil one? Still trying to kill that beautiful Snow White?"

"She's not beautiful!" Regina snapped, "And yes I am _still_ trying to kill her, in case you've forgotten."

"Oh how could I dearie? She is solely responsible for the death of your beloved stable boy."

_Sticking pins was always his favorite trick._

"He had name." she gritted.

"Did he? Refresh my memory dearie; I seem to have forgotten it."

Regina looked away into the fire and fought the urge to weep.

_Especially in front of him._

She was silent, hatefully silent for what seemed like days.

"I'm waiting dearie." He squealed.

"Daniel," she whispered, "His name was Daniel."

"_Right_." He said flatly, as if totally uninterested.

"_Soooo_," he sang, "What do you want dearie? My time is very precious and I cannot waste it all on you going down memory lane digging up dead lovers and nonsense."

"_How can I kill Snow White?"_ she hissed as she whipped her head around and locked eyes with the imp.

_Stupid girl_.

"Well dearie," he cackled as he dove underneath his dealmaker mask, "There is one way-"

"Tell me." She demanded, her pointed blood red nails dug into the fabric of the couch.

"Do you recall the dark curse I gave unto you?"

_The dark curse she traded to Maleficent._

_The dark curse she traded for the potion for him…_

_Abortive properties…_

"Yes?" she lied.

"That curse will solve all your woes my dear, dear heartless one."

He winked at her and smiled coldly.

"How will that help me? You never explained it to me."

"You're a clever girl, figure it out yourself."

He stood up and walked to her floor length mirror, "It will allow you to finally _win _my love, no more happy ending for our lovely little snow-drop and her_ charming_ prince."

"Her soon to be husband you mean?" she called from the lounge, "The wedding is tomorrow."

"And you didn't get an announcement!?"

He turned on his heels and wagged his finger, "Tsk tsk! I've never heard of such bad taste! Our white-as-snow did not even invite the woman who raised her!"

"How I would love to be there," Regina seethed, "How I would love to rip her heart from her body and show it to her before I _crush_ it."

"Oh dearie how boring! I thought I taught you better than that!"

"You taught me revenge and her _death_ is my revenge."

"But what if you have a longer, more painful revenge?"

His hands danced wildly as he spoke, "What if Snow White's suffering could be…._eternal_?"

"I already tried that and failed."

Rumplestiltskin giggled, "You tried a faulty sleeping curse created by a woman who periodically turns into a dragon, undone with a simple kiss!"

Regina rose from her seat and adjusted the long leather train of her jacket.

"But _myyy_ dark curse cannot be undone so easily!"

"Ha!" Regina laughed, "Every curse has a counter and every curse can be broken."

He dropped his hands and his voice, "Not this one dearie."

She could tell by his expression he spoke true.

_He never lied._

_He just used tricky English._

_This curse will not be broken easily….it will take 28 years to break…_

"You intrigue me."

Regina stalked towards him with her hands firmly on her hips, "Eternal suffering?"

She cocked her head and smirked at him.

"Eternal suffering," He growled, "For the soon to be Queen and her handsome King."

"You're not lying to me, are you?"

He held open his arms welcomingly, "When have you known me to lie to you? From the beginning, my pet, I have always been on_ your_ side."

Regina smiled warmly, "Tell me more about this "dark curse," tell me of my revenge."

"Story time?" he giggled.

"Yes," she purred, "_Story time_."


	27. Chapter 27

**Hello Dearies! **

**Sorry I've been taking sooo long I've been caught up and I'm taking a summer session :/**

**But, I'm sorry I left some of ya'll stranded! **

**I'm glad though that ya'll have stuck with this little story!**

**Once has come to an end.**

**Sadness until September.**

**But there will most def be some angsty/dark fanfic from me for a while!**

**I love my feedback sooo much ya'll seriously I truly take it into consideration and read every wonderful review. **

**All of ya'll should be Once writers!**

**Chapter 27**

* * *

Rumplestiltskin pulled out all the stops when he explained the Dark curse to Regina.

He even went so far as to show her the future in which she would be living in….and _winning_.

Finally.

As he wove a blanket of magic before her that showed in full flesh exactly how miserable and weak Snow White would be, he couldn't help but see that bright sixteen year old smile bleeding through all the layers of maquillage and hate.

It made his mouth taste of iron.

If anyone dare to twist and warp his daughter the way he had done Regina over a decade ago he would not hesitate in ripping their heart out and crushing it to dust in front of them.

_Or skin them alive…._

Like he planned to do to Maurice….

"You have spoken true!" Regina beamed.

"I _shall_ have my revenge."

Quickly Rumplestiltskin painted his usual wicked smirk across his face as he laughed out a squeaky, "Did you ever hear of me telling a lie my pet?!"

Regina rolled her eyes and gave him an accusing look.

"I'm not even going down that road with you."

He giggled and waved his hands around like a mad-man, even though his concentration was waning terribly and his mind was drifting to Belle, he struggled to stay in character.

"So dearie," he began as he took a seat on the edge of her bed, "bring me the curse and I shall tell you how to enact it properly since you lack the intelligence to do it yourself like a big girl."

Regina froze.

She didn't have the curse.

Maleficent did.

_Rumple will skin her alive._

"Do we really need to do this now?"

She nervously fluffed the black lace collar of her gown .

He cocked his head and wrinkled his brow, "Yesssss." he hissed, "We need to do this _now_!"

Regina knew that tone.

He was agitated and anxious.

The Beast was right at the surface ready to leap out.

"Well I do hate to disappoint you Rumple but I have a rather pressing engagement to attend to at the moment, we'll have to continue this later."

She whipped around and grabbed the cathedral train of her gown as she stormed to the great double doors only to have them slam in her face; bolted with magic far greater than her own.

"I never did have much patience for liars your highness."

Regina stared at the sealed doors.

"Now, give me the Dark Curse."

His voice was deadly calm.

Regina ringed her hands nervously and turned to face him.

Why was she so afraid of him?

_Because he was the Dark One and no one crosses the Dark One…._

"I don't have it."

Her voice was a meek whisper; like a little mouse.

_Only he could make her feel lower than dirt._

"Could you repeat that for me dearie?"

"I don't have it anymore."

"What do you mean you don't have it anymore?!"

"How dare you raise your voice to me you evil little imp!"

Within the blink of an eye Regina was being bound by magic as she rose higher and higher into the air.

Her struggle against it was pointless, just as it had been when her mother had used it on her flowering adolescent body.

"Now your majesty," he spat as he circled her suspended body wrapped tightly in his black magic, "How could you possibly lose this curse that I entrusted you with totally?"

"I didn't say I lost it!" she managed to choke out.

"Then what happened to it? It didn't just sprout legs and walk away did it dearie!"

Regina writhed and fought against the barriers that were crushing her.

"_You told me to do it!_"

He stopped and waved his hand making the invisible bonds even stronger before barking out, "What are you talking about?"

"_Maleficent!_"

* * *

Time passed sluggishly for Belle now that she was alone.

Rumplestiltskin had not attempted to connect with her through the mirror and she had begun to become a little worried.

She tried to keep her mind occupied by reading all night and sleeping most of the day, usually not rising before six or seven in the late evening.

She explored forgotten bedrooms and abandoned salons.

She wore his clothes just to keep his smell with her at all times.

She was besotted and proud of it.

After all, she was as good as his wife.

At night she always barricaded herself in his chambers, normally with a new novel plucked from the dusty shelves of the massive library he had gifted her so long ago.

She would curl into his bed or before a roaring fire on his many fur blankets and read until the sun peeked over the snow topped mountains.

She had no fear of anyone finding the castle and harming her for Rumplestiltskin had cloaked the entire Dark Castle before he left with a shielding spell.

No one would be able to trespass.

So there Belle was, alone in a larger than life castle with only one thing to do.

Wait.


End file.
